Apricot and lemon thyme frangipane tartlets recipe

Details

• Cuisine: English
• Recipe Type: Dessert
• Difficulty: Medium
• Preparation Time: 30 mins
• Cooking Time: 30 mins
• Serves: 4

Step-by-step

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
2. Combine the softened butter and icing sugar together until pale. Add the vanilla seeds and lemon zest.
3. Slowly mix in the eggs. Once the eggs have been fully incorporated, gently fold in the flour – being careful not to overwork it. If you overwork the flour, the gluten will toughen and you will end up with tough pastry that doesn’t have the crisp, light texture that is desired.
4. Form a ball of the dough on a lightly floured surface. Wrap in cling film and place in the fridge to chill until needed. Line 4-6 individual tartlets or an 8" straight sided tart case.
5. Place on a baking tray and place in the fridge to set.
6. To make the frangipane, beat the softened sugar with the caster sugar at a high speed for a short amount of time. The more air you add in the more it will puff up in the oven. What we want is a dense, moist almond sponge.
7. Add the eggs one at a time and then fold in the ground almonds and flour and a few thyme leaves. Then place the mix into a bowl and keep to one side.
8. Remove the tart case from the fridge and spoon in some apricot jam to the base of the tart, spreading it around ,creating a base for the frangipane. Don't add too much as it will overflow and pour out, and then it will be hard to remove the tart from the tin.
9. Then place the frangipane into a piping bag fitted with a large plain piping nozzle and pipe, starting in the middle a ring all the way to the outer edge, covering the jam.
10. Then pile the cut apricot onto the frangipane and bake in the oven for 30-45 minutes depending on the thickness of the tart. You can test if the frangipane is cooked just like testing if a cake is done, by inserting a skewer and if clean it's cooked.
11. Whilst the tart is cooking, prepare the glaze. In a small pan, place the apricot jam and 1 tbsp water and bring to the boil. This will act as a lovely shiny glaze for the top.
12. When the tart comes out of the oven, immediately brush with the glaze, doing this hot will set the glaze and give you that beautiful shine.
13. Leave to cool, before removing from the case and serving. Perfect with a little crème chantilly or crème fraiche to cut through the richness of the tart.