Thursday 24 May 2012

Summer frangipane

My friend Suzanne went away for a week so she gave me the keys to her house and offered me to use her oven (my oven is still broken). How generous is that! Anyway, I wanted to bake something with the ingredients I had so I started digging around my kitchen. I found frozen sweet pastry (that I made from scratch) in the freezer so my first fought was "tart!!". But later on, after finding ground almonds in my cupboard I made a decision on frangipane (which is a tart technically, but I like the frangipane name better)! So today on my way to my friend's house I bought some strawberries and here it comes the result :)

STRAWBERRY FRANGIPANE

For the sweet pastry:
  • 500g plain flour
  • 250g unsalted butter
  • 125g caster sugar
  • 1 egg

For the cream:

  • 150g unsalted butter
  • 150g caster sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 150g ground almonds
  • 50g plain flour
  • 1/2 pod of vanilla seeds (optional)
  • 250g strawberries

For the glaze:

  • 2 tbsp apricot or seedless raspberry jam
  1. Place the butter and sugar in mixing bowl and beat them together until they are light and fluffy. Add the egg to the butter mixture and mix it until combined. Then add the flour gradually and mix until it looks like smooth dough.
  2. Place the pastry in the refrigerator for 30-60 minutes to rest. (or into freezer if you want it to be used another time)
  3. Meanwhile make the cream. Place the butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl and mix them together until they are creamy and light. Mix the eggs in 1 at a time until well combined. Sift the flour and ground almonds together. Slowly add the almond and flour mixture to the butter mixture. Mix the ingredients together until you have a creamy mixture. Set the frangipane cream aside until ready to use.
  4. Remove the pastry from the fridge. Roll it out on a well floured surface until it is around .5-.75mm thick. Lightly grease 30cm tart tin (or line it with baking paper). Line the tart tin with the pastry. Place the lined tin in the freezer for 15 minutes or in the fridge for 30 minutes to rest.
  5. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Blind bake the pastry for 10 minutes until just firm and without colour. Remove the pastry from the oven an allow it to cool.
  6. Reduce the temperature to 180°C. Place the frangipane cream in the tart tin and spread it out evenly with a palate knife (do not over fill).
  7. Place the strawberies in the frangipane so that they are spread out over the tart.
  8. Place the tart in the preheated oven and cook it for 30-40 minutes. The frangipane cream will be golden brown, risen and firm when the tart is ready.
  9. Remove the tart from the oven and allow it to cool for 10 minutes. Remove the tart carefully from the tin.
  10. Place the apricot or raspberry jam in a small saucepan and place it over a moderate heat. Heat it while stirring until it has melted. Remove it form the heat and brush it over the tart lightly with a pastry brush.