A golden crust with a delicious almond and pistachio cream, some juicy and sour apricots… so good!

Baking a home made tart, from dough to fillings is not so complicated. Here is what I learnt at the pastry school. I’ll give you all my tips. Just follow my lead.

Makes a 9.5 inches diameter pie

Sweet crisp pastry dough

• 1 and 2/3 cup flour
• 3/4 cup butter
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup icing sugar
• 1/4 cup almond flour
• 1/4 cup egg

Pistachio almond cream

• 2/3 cup soft butter
• 1/3 cup and 1 tsp sugar
• 3/4 cup almond flour
• 1/2 cup egg
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 2 tbsp rum
• 1/4 cup pistachio paste

• 15 fresh apricots or 14 oz caned apricots
• Some apricot jam

Making the sweet crisp pastry dough

In a bowl, put the flour and butter cut into small pieces then crumble with your fingers into the flour, until there’s no more butter and you get like a wet sand mixture.

Add salt, sifted icing sugar and almond flour, and mix.

Add 1/4 cup beaten egg into the mixture and squash the dough with your palm against the table until it’s perfectly mixed.

Roll out between two parchment paper sheets until 0.2 inches thick. Refrigerate at least one hour. It’s very important, so that the dough hardens and lining the tart ring will be easier then.

Making the almond cream

Cream the butter using a wooden spoon then a whisk when it gets softer. If the butter is too hard, you can warm it few seconds on the stove, or in the microwave at 350 W. But be careful, the butter shouldn’t be melted! You need to get a cream like consistency.

Then add sugar, almond flour, and 1/2 cup beaten eggs. Give it a mix, then add the cornstarch, rum and pistachio paste.

Making the tart

If using caned apricots, strain them.

If using fresh fruits, wash and dry the apricots, then cut in halves removing the stone.

Preheat the oven to 360°C.

Remove the parchment paper from the dough.

Put a bottomless tart ring on a baking tray covered with parchment paper or silicon sheet. Roll the pastry dough on the rolling pin then unroll over the tart ring. Gently press the dough into the corners. Remove the excess dough with the rolling pin or a knife.

Dock with a fork then spread with pistachio and almond cream. Arrange apricot halves in circles.

Bake for 35 to 45 minutes until golden brown and crispy.

Let cool then brush with apricot jam to make it glossy. That will help the tart not drying out to fast.

For more colours and pistachio flavour, you can sprinkle some crushed pistachio on your finished tart.