“The secret lies in the love and the effort the maker puts into the creation. It really is a simple dessert to make. There’s nothing to it.”
Maria Olivas
Frangipane is a filling made from or flavored like almonds. This filling can be used in a variety of ways including cakes, tarts and other assorted pastries. An alternative French spelling from a 1674 cookbook is franchipane with the earliest modern spelling coming from a 1732 confectioners’ dictionary. Originally designated as a custard tart flavored by almonds or pistachios it came later to designate a filling that could be used in a variety of confections and baked goods.
Recipe: Vanilla Almond Frangipane Plum Tart
Summary: An easy and delicious tart – a crisp base paired with a vanilla almond frangipane and sweetly tart plums! Ground oats in the pastry worked really well!
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 60 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 recipe pâte sucrée {recipe follows}
- 1 recipe vanilla almond frangipane {recipe follows}
- 8-10 small ripe plums, each sliced into 6 sections
- 1/4 cup slivered almonds
- 2 tbsp apricot jam, melted
- Pâte Sucrée
- 150gms plain flour
- 50gms oats
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp vanilla sugar
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 100gm unsalted butter, chilled, diced
- 1/2 vanilla bean scraped
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- Vanilla Almond Frangipane
- 1 cup whole almonds
- 1/3 cup muscavado sugar
- 70gms unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 egg
- 1/2 vanilla bean, scraped
- 1 tbsp flour
- 1 tsp almond extract
- Pinch of salt
Method:
- Pâte Sucrée
- Whiz the plain flour, oats, sugar, salt, baking powder and scraped vanilla bean in the processor. {Thermomix: Speed 10/ 20 seconds}
- Add the chilled butter and whiz briefly until you get a crumb like mix. {Thermomix: Speed 10, 15 seconds}
- Add the vanilla extract and egg and briefly pulse till it begins to come together {Thermomix: Speed 6 / 10 seconds}
- Turn onto work surface and pat together into a ball, handling the dough as little as possible. Wrap in cling film and chill for at least 30 minutes to help the dough relax.
- Preheat the oven to 190C.
- Roll out the dough and lne the tart pan. Patch any broken bits with leftover dough.
- Bake blind {line the unbaked shell with aluminum foil and place bean/pie weights on top} for 8 minutes. Remove weights and foil and continue to bake for a further 5 minutes. Make sure it doesn’t over brown.
- In the meantime, make the vanilla almond frangipane
- Whiz the whole almonds, muscavado sugar, flour and salt in the processor until the almonds are pulverised. {Thermomix: Speed 10/ 20 seconds}.
- Add the butter,egg, vanilla bean and almond extract and blen until smooth. {Thermomix: Speed 6/ 20 seconds}. The frangipane is ready, and can be stored in a zipbag overnight in the refrigerator if desired.
- Lower the oven temperature to 180C.
- Assemble the tart
- Turn the frangipane into the baked crust {I turned it into the hot shell and it turned out fine}, spread uniformly with an offset spatula.
- Arrange plum slices over the top, sprinkle with slivered almonds and bake for 30 minutes, until the frangipane is fluffy looking and firm to touch.
- Remove from oven and immediately brush the top with the the melted apricot jam {this seals the moisture in and keeps the fruit looking good}.
- Serve warm or at room temperature … or even chilled!
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