Plum and almond tart

Sometimes I get too ambitious. Let’s bake a tart from scratch! That means no store-bought tart shell. Boy, was I in for a lot of work.

The dough was difficult to form because I used the wrong type of sugar. The recipe calls for confectioner’s sugar, which I assumed was granulated sugar. I later found out it is icing sugar, which would easily melt and thus make the dough more pliable. So, with the tough and crumbly dough, there was some great effort pressing the dough onto my Pyrex tart mold. Then I had to freeze the shell before putting in the filling. But that’s not all.

For the filling, the almonds need to be blanched, then chopped fine with the food processor. Next up for the food processor is the butter and sugar. Then mix the butter and sugar and the chopped almonds with the pistachio and beaten eggs. And after all this, the filling has to be chilled.

By the time it went into the shell with the plum, I was shaking from hunger. After an hour of baking (or less – watch that the almond does not burn – nuts tend to burn easily in the oven), another half hour is needed to cool it down. My advice is, there’s nothing like a nutty tart you make with your own two hands, but do not attempt it on an empty stomach.

Shopping list:

For the pastry shell – vanilla bean, lemon (zest), cold milk (or water)

For the filling – plums, almonds, pistachio nuts, vanilla sugar (or use caster sugar plus vanilla)

From the pantry:

For the pastry shell – butter, icing sugar, salt, flour, eggs (yolk), salt

For the filling – sugar, eggs, butter, sugar

Hardware: oven, tart mold, fridge, food processer

Can I do it?: It’s not difficult as you think if you buy a readymade tart shell. If you attempt to make the shell from scratch, be prepared to spend a lot of time on this. Maybe you can make the shell a day or two earlier.

Tip: 1. Make sure you have enough space in the freezer to freeze your tart shell.   2. The recipe is actually enough for two tarts. I made one first and froze the leftover dough and filling. The second time around, I left out the plums and used a silicone muffin tray instead of tart mould. I find this easier as the baking time can be halved and the portions are perfect for single servings. It’s also easier to store muffin-size tarts in the fridge compared to a tart mold. And no more messy slicing if your crust doesn’t turn out perfect. You could use a tin muffin tray too but line with cupcake paper for easier removal of baked tart.

Credit: Jamie’s Kitchen by Jamie Oliver. Full recipe for tart here.