Plum Tart
🍳 Cook: 60 min
Ingredients
| 8 | plum |
| 100 g | butter (frangipane) |
| 100 g | sugar (frangipane) |
| 100 g | ground almond |
| 5 g | plain flour (frangipane) |
| 100 g | egg (frangipane) |
| 200 g | nibbed almond |
| 250 g | unsalted butter (vanilla butter) |
| 2 | vanilla pods |
| 250 g | plum jam (plum glaze) |
| 500 ml | water (plum glaze) |
| 500 g | puff pastry |
| — | Demerara sugar |
| — | vanilla ice cream (to serve) |
Instructions
- To make the frangipane, soften the butter in the microwave to a very loose consistency. Place in a mixing bowl with a paddle attachment beat until creamy, incorporating the sugar in gradually.
- Mix the ground almonds and flour together. Alternating between the two, add small amounts of the dry mix to the butter, followed by the eggs so the mix remains light and fluffy. Mix in the nibbed almonds at the end.
- To make the vanilla butter, soften the butter and scrape the seeds from the vanilla pods into the softened butter. Mix to combine and keep at room temperature whilst cooking the tarts.
- For the plum glaze, gently heat the jam and water, stirring occasionally until the jam has dissolved. Pass through a fine chinois.
- To prepare the tart bases, gently roll the pastry on a flat floured surface to an even 2–3mm thickness. Leave to rest in the fridge for a minimum of 10 minutes.
- Cut 10cm diameter circles out of the pastry then prick these all over with a fork. Store the bases between individual parchment paper in the freezer until required.
- Preheat the oven to 210°C/gas mark 7.
- Spread a thin layer of frangipane evenly across the tart base, leaving a neat rim around the edge. Quarter and remove the stones from the plums and slice the flesh as thinly and evenly as you can.
- Take care arranging the plums around the tart, tightly overlapping all the way round like the spokes of a wheel. Brush over the plums with the softened vanilla butter and sprinkle with Demerara sugar.
- Bake each tart in the oven on a separate piece of parchment paper for 6 minutes. Brush again with vanilla butter and sprinkle with more sugar.
- Place another piece of parchment paper on top of the tart and carefully flip it over – baking the tarts upside down will help to colour the plums whilst also helping the pastry stay crisp.
- Bake the tarts upside down for a further 10–12 minutes until pastry is golden brown and very crisp. Carefully flip the tart over and rest on a wire rack to prevent the pastry from softening.
- Brush with plum glaze to give a nice shine and serve with a ball of vanilla ice cream.