masterclass
ALMOND APRICOT TARTS Can you make cookies? Then you can easily make these tarts. RECIPE • ST YLING: DENISE MARCHESSAULT PHOTOGRAPHY: DEB GARLICK Even if pastry is not your strong point, this sweet buttery dough, more akin to cookie dough than flaky pastry, is a snap to make. At culinary school, this pastry was our go-to dough for everything from petits fours (bite-sized confections) to tarts, large and small. (We needed a fail-safe pastry. Our school was adjoined to a full-service restaurant, and dessert included an assortment of tarts, prepared by anxious students baking publicly for the first time.) The dough is easily rolled between a sheet of parchment paper and plastic wrap—a technique that works for most doughs and is especially useful for the buttery pastries featured here. Once rolled out, the dough is transferred to tart molds lined with miniature paper baking cups (found in the baking section of most grocery stores). If you’ve ever struggled to remove a baked tart from its mold, you won’t mind the small investment in paper baking cups. The paper prevents the pastry from sticking to the mold. (If you can’t find the exact size baking cups to fit your molds, you can easily trim them to fit.) The filling contains a dollop of apricot jam and almond cream—a mixture of ground almonds, butter and sugar. Not overly sweet or fussy, these simple tarts upstage more traditional seasonal offerings. And they freeze beautifully—as if you needed another reason to include them in your holiday repertoire!
36 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2018
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2018-10-23 11:20:50 AM