Tarte aux abricots recipe

Details

• Cuisine: French
• Recipe Type: Dessert
• Difficulty: Easy
• Preparation Time: 60 mins
• Cooking Time: 20 mins
• Serves: 8

Step-by-step

1. First, make the crème pâtissière. Whisk the sugar, egg yolks and cornflour together in a bowl until smoothly combined and set aside. Pour the milk into a large, heavy-based pan. Split the vanilla pods open, scrape out the seeds with the tip of a knife and add these to the milk with the empty pods. Bring to the boil, then remove from the heat.
2. Pour about a quarter of the hot milk onto the egg mixture, whisking as you do so, then return this mixture to the rest of the milk in the pan. Put back over a gentle heat and cook, stirring continuously, until the crème pâtissière becomes thick. Immediately pass through a sieve into a bowl and stir in the butter. Lay a disc of baking parchment directly on the surface to prevent a skin forming. Leave to cool and then chill before using.
3. Roll out your sweet pastry on a lightly floured surface to a large round, about 3mm thick. Don’t worry if it crumbles or breaks on the first roll – just press it together and re-roll. Use the pastry to line a 25cm loose-based tart tin, leaving the excess pastry hanging over the edge. Chill for 15–30 minutes.
4. Heat your oven to 180°C. Prick the pastry base all over with a fork. Line the pastry case with baking parchment and baking beans , and bake blind for 15 minutes. Remove the parchment and beans, brush the pastry case with eggwash and return to the oven for a further 8–10 minutes until the pastry case is cooked and golden brown at the edges. Trim off the rough edges and set the pastry case aside. Leave in the tin for 10 minutes before removing and placing on a wire rack to cool.
5. Beat the 2 tbsp Kirsch into the cooled crème pâtissière and spread it in the cooled pastry case. Arrange the apricots, cut side down, on top.
6. Warm the apricot jam and 1 tbsp Kirsch in a saucepan until runny, then pass through a sieve. Using a pastry brush, brush this mixture over the apricots to glaze. If you like, you can dust the tart with icing sugar and put it under a hot grill briefly to caramelise the apricots. Serve the tart with vanilla ice cream if you wish.