Shortcrust Pastry Dough

You can use store-bought shortcrust pastry. Follow these instructions to make your own dough. This recipe is an adaption of the pastry dough recipe I use for my Plum Hazelnut Frangipane Tart.

1. In a big bowl, stir together flour, salt and sugar.
2. Cut the cold butter into walnut-sized cubes and add half. Use a food processor and pulse a few times, until the bigger and smaller butter-pieces remain (smallest butter piece should be pea-sized). If using your hands, work quickly as your hands warm the butter. The butter should have different sizes remaining, so bigger pieces are okay!
3. Add the remaining butter cubes and knead/pulse a few times until the dough slowly comes together. Be sure to leave visible butter-pieces! Do not overknead.
4. Add 2 tbsp of cold water. If the dough doesn’t come together yet, add another half a tablespoon, and carefully knead. Do not add too much water as the dough shouldn’t be sticky.
5. Press the dough into a small disk, wrap tightly with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge.
6. After 1-2 hours, take out of the fridge and let sit on a floured counter for 15-20 minutes.
7. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
8. Roll out until 3-4 mm thick, and carefully spread it out on the buttered and lightly floured fluted tart pan (24 cm diameter).
9. To get rid of any overhanging excess dough, make sure to press the side of the dough onto the sides/edges of your pan. Then use a rolling pin to “roll away” the overhang, or use a sharp knife and cut all around.
10. Use a fork to prick the whole base. This helps release any air whilst baking.
11. Scrunch up a sheet of baking paper and place it on top of the pricked pie dough. Pour pie-weights or rice, lentils, etc. onto the paper. This weighs the base down and helps that no air bubbles form.
12. Bake for 15 minutes with weights, then take out of oven, and remove the paper and weights. Paint on the egg wash and bake another 10-15 minutes until golden. Let cool.

Frangipane Filling

1. In a small bowl, cream together the room temperature butter, sugar, vanilla extract, and almond extract for 3-5 minutes.
2. Add the eggs one by one. Scrape down the edge of the bowl after each egg has been added and stirred in.
3. Gently add in the flour and almond meal. Stir on low speed until the frangipane just comes together.
4. If making the frangipane in advance (up to two days), cover the bowl with a lid or plastic wrap and place in the fridge. Take out of fridge 2-3 hours before baking.
5. If using immediately, set the bowl aside and begin assembling the tart.

Assembly

1. Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F again (non-fan-assisted/non-convection).
2. Pour the jam onto the cooled shortcrust base and spread it out evenly.
3. Wash your apricots, and half or quarter them (if they are huge, you might need to cut them into pieces of 8!). Lay the apricot slices onto the whole jam layer. The slices should be touching.
4. Spoon the frangipane onto the apricots, and spread it out evenly using a spatula. Make sure all the apricot slices are covered. The frangipane should touch the pastry on the sides too.
5. Bake the tart for 40-50 minutes, until the frangipane is a golden brown, and is quite firm. If using frozen apricots, the baking time will vary (50-60 minutes – check the recipe notes!)
6. Leave to cool in the tart pan, or if using a tart pan with a removable bottom, lift the tart out after 15 minutes of cooling.
7. To finish the tart, mix the powdered sugar and lemon juice together in a small bowl. The icing will be on the thicker side, but should still drizzle nicely. If it is too thick, add half a tablespoon of lemon juice.
8. Drizzle the icing on top of the tart in a zig-zag motion. If you would prefer the whole tart to be covered in one layer of icing, up the powdered sugar to 200 g and use 2.5 tablespoons of lemon juice.
9. Sprinkle on the flaked almonds on the outer edge of the tart. Use a sharp knife to cut the tart into slices. Enjoy!