Last week, I made lemon & blueberry muffins that were a big hit at my dad's office. I still had tons of blueberries left over, so when I stumbled upon this apricot and blueberry tart recipe on Huffington Post the other day, I was excited to try out another tasty combo.
Stone fruits are in season right now, so I had no problem finding gorgeous and reasonably priced apricots at the Ferry Building Farmers' Market.
Although this recipe is a little more involved, both the tart shell and the pastry cream could be made ahead of time, so all you would need to do is assemble and bake. Perfect for summer entertaining.
For the tart shell, blend the almond paste, sugar and salt with 3 tablespoons of the butter at medium speed until smooth. Beat in the remaining butter. Add 2 cups of flour and beat at low speed until just combined, then beat in the egg and milk. Scrape the dough onto a piece of plastic wrap and flatten into a disk. Wrap tightly and refrigerate for 2 hours, until very firm.
Preheat the oven to 350F.
On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough to a 14-inch round, 1/4 inch thick. I'm not very good at rolling out pastry dough (I always use too much or too little flour), so one trick I use is to sandwich the dough between two sheets of parchment paper. This means no sticking to the counter or the rolling pin!
Transfer to a 12-inch (I used an 11-inch) fluted tart pan with a removable bottom. Another trick I learned for this step is to fold up the sides of the dough and place it directly on top of the removable bottom of the pan.
Then you can just drop the bottom into the tart ring and press the dough up the side of the pan without stretching.
Trim any excess dough with a rolling pin. Freeze the shell for 15 minutes.
Line the shell with foil and fill with pie weights or dried beans. The New Best Recipe book also taught me that you can use pennies as pie weights, because they transfer the heat well.
Bake for 35 minutes, until the pastry is firm and starting to color.
Remove the foil and weights and bake the shell for another 20 minutes, until golden and cooked through. If the rim starts to brown too quickly, cover with foil.
Transfer the shell to a rack; let cool.
Meanwhile, make the filling.
In a medium saucepan, combine the milk with the vanilla bean (I substituted vanilla extract instead, and it still tasted fabulous) and half of the sugar. Bring to a simmer over moderate heat, stirring. Remove from the heat. Remove the vanilla bean and reserve for another use.
Fill a large bowl with ice water. In a medium heatproof bowl, whisk the eggs with the cornstarch and the remaining sugar until smooth.
Gradually whisk in half of the hot milk. Pour the mixture into the saucepan and bring to a boil over moderate heat, whisking constantly, until the pastry cream is thickened, 3 minutes; scrape into a stainless steel bowl.
Set the bowl in the ice bath and let stand, stirring often, until the pastry cream has cooled completely.
Here you can see my makeshift ice bath created with what I could find in our tiny one-butt kitchen. Apparently we do not use stainless steel bowls, and instead of taking an ice pick to the massive block that was stuck together in the freezer, I got lazy and threw in an ice pack for injuries instead.
Spread the pastry cream in the shell in an even layer.
ps - does anyone know why my pastry shrunk back from the pan like that? Is this normal? If you know, please tell me in the comments!
Arrange the apricot quarters in concentric circles. The recipe calls for four concentric circles and two rings of blueberries, but either I had giant apricots or my tart pan was too small for those directions.
Instead, I say just wing it and make it look pretty. You really can't go wrong here.
Bake the tart for 50 minutes, until the apricots are tender. Let cool slightly.
Unmold the tart, cut into wedges and serve warm or at room temperature.
I love the pretty scalloped edges on the crust. The almond paste in this recipe really adds a special note to the flavors.
The fruit also gets beautifully carmelized just a bit on the edges while baking.
Like I mentioned before, this would be an easy dessert to enjoy with friends if you're doing some outside entertaining. I can't think of a better way to enjoy the fruits of summer than with a spectacular tart like this one.
Apricot and Blueberry Tart recipe via Huffington Post, from Food & Wine
- 3 tablespoon(s) almond paste
- 1/4 cup(s) sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon(s) salt
- 1 stick(s) unsalted butter, softened
- All-purpose flour
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- 1/3 cup(s) milk
- 1 1/3 cup(s) milk
- 1/4 vanilla bean, split seeds scraped ** can substitute with vanilla bean
- 1/3 cup(s) sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tablespoon(s) cornstarch
- 2 3/4 pound(s) apricots, pitted and quartered
3/4 pound(s) blueberries, 2 cups
- Make the Tart Shell: In a standing mixer fitted with the paddle, blend the almond paste, sugar and salt with 3 tablespoons of the butter at medium speed until smooth. Beat in the remaining butter. Add 2 cups of flour and beat at low speed until just combined, then beat in the egg and milk. Scrape the dough onto a piece of plastic wrap and flatten into a disk. Wrap tightly and refrigerate for 2 hours, until very firm.
- Preheat the oven to 350°. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough to a 14-inch round, 1/4 inch thick; transfer to a 12-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom, pressing over the bottom and up the side without stretching. Trim any excess dough. Freeze the shell for 15 minutes.
- Line the shell with foil and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 35 minutes, until the pastry is firm and starting to color. Remove the foil and weights and bake the shell for another 20 minutes, until golden and cooked through. If the rim starts to browns too quickly, cover with foil. Transfer the tart shell to a rack; let cool.
- Meanwhile, Make the Filling: In a medium saucepan, combine the milk with the vanilla bean and seeds and half of the sugar. Bring to a simmer over moderate heat, stirring. Remove from the heat. Remove the vanilla bean and reserve for another use.
- Fill a large bowl with ice water. In a medium heatproof bowl, whisk the eggs with the cornstarch and the remaining sugar until smooth. Gradually whisk in half of the hot milk. Pour the mixture into the saucepan and bring to a boil over moderate heat, whisking constantly, until the pastry cream is thickened, 3 minutes; scrape into a stainless steel bowl. Set the bowl in the ice bath and let stand, stirring often, until the pastry cream has cooled completely.
- Spread the pastry cream in the shell in an even layer. Arrange the apricot quarters in four concentric circles, leaving a 1-inch gap between the second and third circles and a 2-inch round in the center of the tart. Fill in the spaces with the blueberries. Bake the tart for 50 minutes, until the apricots are tender. Let cool slightly. Unmold the tart, cut into wedges and serve warm or at room temperature.
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