This is a classic combination of flavours and one that I love. The quality of puff pastry you use for the tart base is crucial for a delicious buttery flavour and a non-greasy texture

Ingredients

This is a classic combination of flavours and one that I love. The quality of puff pastry you use for the tart base is crucial for a delicious buttery flavour and a non-greasy texture. The tart really needs the praline cream served with it for both flavour and sweetness.

Serves 4-6 

  • 250g puff pastry 
  • 450g apricots, halved and stones removed 
  • Zest of 1 lemon 
  • 100g sugar 
  • 2 tablespoons of almond praline powder (see recipe page?) 
  • 4 tablespoons softly whipped cream 

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 200c / 400f / gas 6  
  2. Roll the pastry out to and cut into a neat 22cm circle. Place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. To achieve a rim on the cooked tart, cut another circle 1 cm in from the edge of the pastry.
  3. Your knife should pierce the pastry about 1 mm deep and should be an obvious cut not just a mark. This 1 cm rim will be the risen edge of the cooked tart and hold the fruit in place.
  4. Now pierce the pastry inside the 1 cm rim all over with a fork making sure you feel the tines of the fork hitting the baking sheet. Do not pierce the outside 1cm rim with your fork.  
  5. Mix the apricots, sugar and lemon zest together in a bowl. Arrange the apricots on the pastry in an upright, slightly slanted, slightly standing up and overlapping fashion being careful to keep them ½ cm inside the line on the pastry rim.
  6. This will be a bit awkward but a bit of manoeuvring will get them all into place. Fill the centre of the tart as well. It looks like too much fruit, but the tart really needs it all.
  7. Any sugar and lemon zest left in the bowl should be sprinkled over the apricots. Do not be tempted to leave out some of the sugar as the tart will be too bitter. 
  8. Place the tart in the heated oven and cook for 45 minutes. I like to baste the tart with the syrupy cooking juices after the tart has been cooking for 20 minutes.
  9. I repeat the basting twice more at intervals. I like the tart to have plenty of colour and love when some of the apricots get a little black rim on the cut edge of the fruit. 
  10. Remove the cooked tart from the oven and allow to settle for 5 minutes before carefully transferring to your serving plate of choice. Spoon any cooking juices from the baking sheet over the tart.  
  11.  This tart is best served slightly warm with the chilled praline cream on the side.