Nectarine Pistachio Crunch Layers Recipes

BAKED NECTARINES WITH PISTACHIOS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Chop 3 tablespoons pistachios in a food processor until finely ground. Add butter, confectioners' sugar, almond extract, and salt. Process until combined.
• Place nectarines, cut side up, on a baking sheet, and squeeze lemon over top. Place a generous tablespoon of pistachio mixture on each nectarine half. Chop remaining tablespoon pistachios, and sprinkle on top. Bake until fruit is tender and topping is crisp, 10 to 15 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes. Transfer to 4 plates.
• Whisk together creme fraiche and granulated sugar. Spoon over nectarines, and serve.

PISTACHIO CRUNCH

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 325°F.
• Put the pistachios on a sheet pan and toast in the oven for 15 minutes. Cool to room temperature.
• Put the toasted pistachios in a clean kitchen towel and, with a sauté pan or a rolling pin, bash them into smaller pieces, ideally halving the pistachios, or breaking them down to no smaller than one-eighth their original size.
• Combine the broken pistachios with the pistachio paste, feuilletine, confectioners' sugar, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and paddle on medium-low speed for about 1 minute, until homogenous. The crunch can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 5 days or in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
• If you want to make this nut crunch gluten-free, substitute 75 g (1/2 cup) additional toasted ground pistachios for the feuilletine; used as the replacement for the milk crumbs, this makes the amazing almond flour Pistachio Layer Cake (page 83) entirely gluten-free.
• Pistachio crunch is used in the Chèvre Frozen Yogurt dessert (page 217).

NECTARINE CRISP

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a shallow five- to six-cup baking dish with a little butter.
• Lightly mix half a teaspoon of the cinnamon, half a cup of the brown sugar and the cornstarch together. Toss the nectarines with the lemon juice, fold in the sugar mixture and spread in the baking dish.
• With a fork or a pastry blender, or by pulsing in a food processor, combine the flour, remaining sugar and cinnamon with the remaining butter until crumbly. Spread over the nectarines.
• Bake about 40 minutes, until the top has browned and the filling is bubbly. Allow the crisp to cool to lukewarm, then serve with whipped cream or ice cream.