Squashed Peach Almond Tarts Recipes

PEACH & ALMOND TART

Steps:

• To make the pastry, rub together the flour and butter until it looks like fine breadcrumbs, then mix in the sugar. Add 1 egg yolk and 1 tsp water, followed by the next yolk and 1 tsp water until the dough just comes together. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 30 mins.
• Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Roll the pastry out on a lightly floured surface until big enough to line a 23cm tart tin. If the dough rips, simply patch it up. Cut away the excess pastry. Line with greaseproof paper, fill with baking beans, then bake for 10 mins. Remove paper and beans. Prick quite a few holes in the base of your tart, then bake for another 10-15 mins until biscuity.
• While the pastry cooks, make the filling. Whisk the sugar and butter together until you get a pale paste. Beat in the eggs and finally add the almonds and flour. Spoon into pastry case, arrange the peach slices across the top in a pattern and bake for 30-40 mins until golden. When cool, brush your preserve or jam across the top. Serve with a little pot of crème fraîche on the side and eat it quick before anyone else gets their hands on it!

SQUASHED PEACH & ALMOND TARTS

Steps:

• Beat almonds, butter, egg and half the sugar in a small bowl until mixed. Roll pastry out to the thickness of a 20p piece and, using a saucer about 13cm in diameter, cut out 4 circles. Lift the circles onto a baking tray and spread each thinly with 1 tbsp of almond mixture, leaving a border. Arrange the peach slices on top in a rosette and chill for at least 10 mins before baking. Heat oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas 7.
• Bake tarts on the top shelf for 10 mins, then remove from oven. Sprinkle liberally with sugar, cover with baking parchment and lay another samesized tray on the top. Flip the trays so that the tarts are upside-down. Bake for 5-10 mins more, until the pastry is crisp and the peach is sticky and caramelised. (If you don't have two baking sheets, the tarts can be cooked peach-side up for the whole cooking time.)

PEACH ALMOND TART

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F and spray an 11 x 8-inch rectangular removable-bottom tart pan with nonstick spray.
• For the crust, whisk together flour, ground almonds, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. Cook butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly until it foams, turns clear, and then turns a deep brown, about 6 minutes.
• Add brown butter to flour mixture and stir until incorporated. Press crust evenly and firmly in the bottom and up the sides of prepared tart pan. Slide tart pan onto a baking sheet and place in the oven.
• Bake crust for 13 to 15 minutes, until slightly puffed and set. Cool crust completely on a wire rack and increase oven temperature to 375°F.
• For the filling, place almond paste and butter in a food processor; process until blended. Add eggs; process until smooth. Add sugar, flour, salt, and almond extract; process until combined. Spoon mixture into cooled tart shell and spread into an even layer with an offset spatula.
• Arrange peach slices evenly over filling and sprinkle with sugar. Slide tart pan onto a baking sheet and place in the oven.
• Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until filling is puffed and tart is golden. Cool tart completely on a wire rack before releasing from the pan. Serve tart dusted with powdered sugar.
• Store leftovers overnight in an airtight container in the refrigerator and warm before serving.

PEACH FRANGIPANE TART

Steps:

• Dice the butter as small as you can. If you dip your knife in the flour for the pastry and keep covering the butter with flour as you dice, you will find it easier.
• Put the diced butter and flour in the food processor and pulse until it looks like fine breadcrumbs. Add a pinch of salt, the sugar, egg yolks and lemon zest and pulse again - it should almost immediately adhere into a ball.Remove from the processor, lay it on a sheet of cling film or foil, and lightly press and shape into a compact log (touch it as little as possible). Wrap and chill for at least 1 hour - the longer it rests, the less it will shrink later.
• Butter and flour a 24cm tart tin thoroughly. Unwrap and cut the pastry log into thin even slices and use to cover the bottom and sides of the tin with just touching or slightly overlapping slices. Keep a bowl of ice cubes and some paper towels handy to chill and dry your hands as you work.
• Pat the pastry lightly with cold fingers so the base is even, and make the shell a little thicker round the sides, ensuring it reaches all the way up since it may shrink. To even the base, run an ice cube quickly across, from the centre to the edges. Chill again.
• Tip the almonds and 50g/2oz sugar into the food processor and whizz until finely chopped. Dice the butter and add to the almonds with the flour. Process again until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs, then add the egg and eg yolk and process briefly until soft and creamy. Add the crushed amaretti and briefly whizz again. Chill.
• Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4/fan 160C.Drop the peaches into a pan of boiling water, lift out after a few seconds then cool in cold water. Peel, halve and stone the peaches, sprinkle with 2 tbsp sugar and leave for 5 minutes. Spread th amaretti cream in the base of the pastry case. Put the peach halves on top, rounded side up, cutting them if necessa to fill the centre. Scatter with the almonds
• Bake for 25-35 minutes until golden. Check the filling with a toothpick (which should come out barely flecked) and ensure the pastry is shrinking away from the tin. Dust with icing sugar and serve a room temperature, with a glass of Tuscan Vin Santo.