Best Hazelnut Frangipane Tart With Apricots And Softly Whipped Creme Fraiche Recipes

APRICOT AND BERRY TART

Steps:

• Heat oven to 400 degrees, and have ready an ungreased 8-inch tart pan with removable bottom. In a medium bowl, toss together the apricots, berries, and 4 tablespoons sugar. Set aside.
• In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour, cornmeal, 3 tablespoons sugar, salt, butter, egg yolk, and vanilla; pulse until dough begins to come together. Press dough into tart pan; set pan on a baking sheet. Bake until golden and slightly puffy, about 15 minutes. Remove from oven. Using a spatula, gently flatten bottom of crust.
• Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees. Arrange fruit in crust. Bake 30 minutes; sprinkle with remaining tablespoon sugar. Bake until apricots are juicy and tender, about 15 minutes more. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Remove tart from frame; serve with whipped cream, if desired.

APPLE TART WITH HAZELNUT FRANGIPANE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.;
• For the dough:
• Mix the flour, butter, sugar, and salt quickly with your fingertips until the butter is in pieces about the size of dried beans. Quickly stir the water into the mixture and then gather up the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap and press it into a flat dish shape. Refrigerate dough for 1 hour.
• Line a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan with parchment or a silicon pad. Roll the dough out onto a lightly floured surface into a rectangle about 15-inches long by 10-inches wide, with rough edges. Roll the dough up onto your rolling pin and then unroll it directly onto the lined pan.
• Roast the hazelnuts on a cookie sheet for 7 or 8 minutes. Transfer the nuts to a food processor, add the 1/4 cup sugar, egg, 1 tablespoon butter, and vanilla, and process until a creamy paste forms. Spread the frangipane on the dough, stopping about 1 1/2-inches from the outer edge on all sides.
• Peel the apples, remove the cores, and cut them into 1/2-inch thick slices. Arrange them attractively in a slightly overlapping pattern, like the tiles of a roof, on the pastry dough so that the apples cover the frangipane. Fold the edge of the dough back over the apples to make a 1 to 1 1/2-inch border of dough. Increase the oven temperature to 400 degrees F. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons sugar over the apples, letting a little of the sugar fall onto the border to help crystallize the dough. Break the remaining 2 tablespoons butter into pieces and scatter them over the tart. Bake for 1 hour. The dough should be nicely crystallized all over.
• Remove the finished tart from the oven and cool on a rack until lukewarm. Dilute the apricot preserves with the calvados or water and glaze the surface of the tart, spreading it carefully on the apples with the underside of a spoon. Serve at room temperature cut into little wedges, with plain cream, sour cream, creme fraiche, or ice cream, if desired.

RED, WHITE, AND BLUE TARTS

Steps:

• On a lightly floured surface, roll out a disc of pate sucree 1/8 inch thick to fit a 3 3/4-by-13 1/4-inch, fluted, rectangular tart pan with a removable bottom. Brush off excess flour with a dry pastry brush. Carefully transfer dough to tart pan, tuck dough into the edges, gently pressing along sides, and allow excess dough to overhang the edges. Trim the dough by running your rolling pin over the dough against the edges. Gently shape the edges by pressing the length of your forefinger against each flute along the sides. Prick all over the bottom with the tines of a fork. Transfer to the refrigerator, and chill for 1 hour. Repeat with 2 more discs of dough. Reserve the remaining disc for another use.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Remove chilled tart shells from refrigerator, and line each with a piece of parchment paper that overhangs the edges by at least 2 inches. Fill parchment with pie weights or dried beans. Bake until just starting to color, about 20 minutes. Remove parchment and weights from tart shells, and return tart shells to oven. Continue baking until tart bottom is golden, about 20 minutes more. Transfer tart shells to a cooling rack, and allow to cool completely. Carefully remove tart shells from pan.
• Using an offset spatula, spread 1/3 of the creme fraiche filling into the bottom of each tart shell. To glaze blueberries, toss in a small bowl with 1/2 cup strained apricot jam. Arrange blueberries in one of the shells. Arrange raspberries in second shell and brush carefully with remaining 1/2 cup apricot jam. Arrange golden raspberries in the third shell. Generously dust golden raspberries with confectioners' sugar. Arrange tarts on a serving platter. Serve immediately.

CHOCOLATE-HAZELNUT SPREAD

Steps:

• Heat oven to 400 degrees. Place hazelnuts in a single layer on a baking pan. Toast in oven until the skins are almost black, about 15 minutes. Wrap hot hazelnuts in a clean kitchen towel, and rub until most of the skins have come off. Discard skins, and place the hot hazelnuts in the bowl of a food processor.
• Process nuts, scraping down sides of bowl occasionally, until they have liquefied, about 5 minutes. Set the hazelnuts aside.
• Combine the condensed milk, chocolate chips, and honey in a heat-proof bowl or the top of a double boiler; set over a pan of simmering water. Stirring occasionally, heat until the chocolate chips have melted, about 3 minutes.
• Add the hot-chocolate mixture to the liquefied hazelnuts, and process until the mixture is smooth, about 5 minutes. Transfer the spread to an airtight container, and store, refrigerated, up to 1 month.