Apricot-Plum Almond Tart

Did you all have a wonderful Father's Day celebrating the daddies in your lives? We sure did. Though my hubby was on-call and worked most of the weekend we were able to sit down with our girls and my parents and have a nice meal of juicy sliders hot off the grill with all the fixin's. For dessert I wanted to make something special. And I really wanted to use the glorious stone fruits that are just ripening right now. We don't have any mature stone fruit trees (except for almost ripe peaches!), but I will confess to plucking a plum or two dangling over our fence from the neighbor's tree. Don't tell, K?

I served this tart with coconut gelato. Vanilla ice cream or freshly whipped cream would be nice too.

One of my favorite treats is an Apricot Almond Bar from our local bakery. The tart apricots are the perfect compliment to the sweet rich almond filling and the buttery shortbread crust. I decided to make something similar for our Father's Day dessert. I found a beautiful Apricot Almond Tart recipe over at Tartelette and made some changes. Since I wanted to be sure it had that divine buttery crust, I used a shortbread crust I have made many times and know is fantastic (I'm sure Tartelette's is fantastic too)!

The result was a beautiful and delicious Apricot-Plum Almond Tart. Next time I would add 1/2 teaspoon almond extract to the filling mixture. I would also arrange the fruit on top of the filling rather than pouring it over to show off that beautiful fruit. 

Apricot-Plum Almond Tart
printer-friendly recipe
makes one 11 inch tart

Crust:
1/2 pound unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 cups flour
1/8 teaspoon salt

Filling:
1 stick butter, softened
1/3 cup honey
1 cup ground almonds
2 eggs
1/4 cup heavy cream
4-5 fresh plums, cut into slices (number will depend on sizes of fruit)
4-5 fresh apricots, cut into slices
slivered almonds, toasted (optional garnish)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

For the crust, cream the butter and sugar until light in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Combine the flour and salt and, with the mixer on low, add to the butter until just mixed. Dump the dough onto a well-floured board and gather into a ball. Flatten the dough with floured hands and press it into an 11 inch tart pan, building up a 1/2-inch edge on all sides. Chill.

Bake the crust for 15 to 20 minutes, or until very lightly browned. Let cool on a wire rack. Leave the oven on.

Place the butter, honey, ground almonds, and the eggs in a large bowl and whisk until smooth (can also be done in a food processor). Add the cream but stir in it instead of whisking not to emulsify it or it will rise while baking.
Arrange the apricots and plums at the bottom of the pie crust and pour the cream over them. Bake 30 minutes at 350F or until lightly browned and filling no longer "jiggles". Sprinkle with slivered almonds and dust with powdered sugar if desired. 
crust adapted from Ina Garten's Lemon Bars, filling adapted from Tartelette's Apricot Almond Tart