Almond and White Peach Tarts
With a few simple ingredients and a little patience, refined patisserie is within your grasp.
This recipe is a bit on the fancier side of things, quite the opposite of the Bourbon Pecan Cherry Crisp. I adapted my grandmother’s shortbread recipe to make a super buttery cookie crust and made a Frangipane paste to create these beautiful Almond and White Peach Tarts.
I made four splendid personal sized tarts in order to have a more refined patisserie feel, perfect to impress any guests you might have. But you can easily use this recipe to make one full sized tart, if you do not have personal sized tart pans. Even though this recipe seems quite complex, the individual components are really quite easy to make and could be made ahead of time.
Frangipane Tart Base
6 TBSP butter
6 TBSP granulated sugar
¾ cup almond meal (almond flour)
1 ½ tablespoons all-purpose wheat flour
1 large egg
¾ teaspoons almond extract
Shortbread Crust
½ cup of unsalted butter, room temp
6 TBSP granulated sugar
¼ tsp kosher salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 ¼ cups of All-Purpose Flour
To make the frangipane: In a heatproof bowl, melt the butter either in the microwave or over a bain-Marie. Stir in the sugar, almond flour, flour, eggs, and almond extract. Chill for a minimum of 2 hours before using. Keep it in the fridge for 7 days or freeze for up to 8 weeks. I made this the night before.
For the tart crust: In a stand mixer, cream together butter, sugar, salt and vanilla extract. Add flour and mix well until dough is smooth. Chill the dough in the fridge for 1 hour.
If using personal size tart pans, divide the dough into four pieces and press into pans.
Fork the bottoms and put in the freezer for 10 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 375 °F.
Blind bake the tarts by using a square of parchment and pie weights. I always use dried beans as my pie weights. Bake bake on a sheet pan for 10 minutes. Remove the pie weights and bake your tart shells for another 5 minutes. You don’t want to bake them completely just enough to get them started. Remove and cool completely in the pans on a wire rack. If your tart shells puff up on the bottoms don’t fret! I have a little remedy, while they are still hot, after the blind bake, take a glass and gently press down the bottoms to flatten them a bit before they start to cool.
To assemble your tarts: Spread about 2 tablespoons of the frangipane on to the base of each tart shell. You just want to cover the bottoms, you will not need all of the frangipane; save the rest for another application. Fill them the rest of the way with the white peach pie filling. Top with sliced almonds.
Bake for 35-40 minutes. The edges of the shortbread should be golden brown and your tart filling should be nice and set. Cool on a wire rack until cooled completely. Serve and enjoy!