Little Jack Horner’s got nothing on me. What’s he got? A corner, a thumb and a nursery rhyme no one understands. Me? I’ve got fresh plums and frangipane. That’s right. You heard me. Frangipane. I know. It sounds like a resort cocktail, but it’s really just fancy food talk for a filling made with ground almonds. And plums and almonds go together like boozy fruit-based cocktails and tiny paper umbrellas — or sneaky little boys and pies — so this was combination seemed obvious.
I had pastry left over from the annual Thanksgiving Concord Grape Pie — enough to make a 6-inch tart. So, I got creative with the plums. Compared to the in-your-face-I’m-a-GRAPE pie, this one is subtle. But subtle’s good.
Good enough to stick your thumb in.
After feedback on the new recipe format, I’m trying a third variation. People like a complete ingredient list to use for grocery shopping and mise en place (another fancy food word for something simple — preparing all your ingredients before you cook.) but also liked the instructions woven in with the ingredient requirements. So, I’m trying a hybrid format. What do you think? Too long? Works better?
[box type=”info” style=”rounded” border=”full”]Update: I’ve started using Ziplist so the formatting issue is now set by the software during conversion. Problem solved.[/box]
Frangipane, a simple ground almond paste, turns a ho-hum plum tart into something special.
Scale
Ingredients
pastry for 6-inch pie
Plums
2 cups plums, pitted and sliced in wedges
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
fresh nutmeg
Frangipane
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup ground almonds
2 tbsp icing sugar
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Prepare the crust: Roll the pastry to 1/4-inch thick and line a 6-inch tart pan. Chill the pastry in the refrigerator until ready.
Prepare the fruit: In a medium bowl, toss the plums, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg together. Set aside.
Make the frangipane: In a food processor or blender, purée the butter, almonds, icing sugar, vanilla and egg until smooth.
Assemble the tart: Spread the frangipane evenly over the bottom of the pie shell. Sprinkle with the sugared plums.
Bake: Place the pie in the bottom third of the oven and bake 35 to 45 minutes or until the crust is golden and the plums are bubbling.Allow to cool before serving.
