In Shakespeare’s day, apricots were still thought to be aphrodisiacs – whether that’s true or not – my apricot tart flatters the desire to live and love and brings a touch of France to the table – that’s a promise! I love French cuisine.
I love tartes of almost every kind. I love apricots – just like that – pure and without any frills. That’s why I rarely manage to make anything out of them, because I always eat them all the same. Ripe apricots must be soft and shiny. Apricots are harvested from the end of May to the end of September – they usually come from Turkey. But also in France there are huge apricot plantations and heavenly apricot tartes. The fruits taste best from mid-July to the end of August – right now. There are also sugar apricots – smaller and firmer in the meat and really sugar sweet. For my tarte I used “normal” apricots – I had bought such a big basket that even I couldn’t eat them all the same. The result was a tart that absolutely had to be baked again!
Ingredients for 8 pieces
- 100 g butter, (cold)
- 3 tbsp icing sugar
- 200 g flour
- 1 egg, (Kl. M)
- salt
- 700 g apricots
- 80 g sugar
- 50 g butter
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 0.5 Vanilla pod
- 200 g crème fraîche
Preparation
Cut butter into pieces, add icing sugar, flour, egg and 1 pinch of salt in a bowl. Knead first with the dough hooks, then with your hands until smooth. Wrap in foil and chill for 1 hour.
Halve and stone the apricots. For the caramel, heat the sugar in a tarte-tatin tin (24 cm Ø; or in an ovenproof pan), stirring only when the sugar begins to melt. Add butter and lemon juice and melt while stirring. Put the pan aside.
Place the apricots on the caramel in a circle close to each other on the cut surface. Roll out the shortcrust pastry on the floured working surface to form a circle (approx. 30 cm Ø). Wrap the dough over the rolling pin, place over the apricots and press into the baking tin at the edge. Prick the dough several times with a fork. Bake the tart in a preheated oven at 200 degrees Celsius (gas 3, fan oven 180 degrees Celsius) on the 2nd rail from below for 25-30 minutes.
Leave to rest for 2 minutes. Carefully invert the tart with the help of a “cake saver”.
Score the vanilla pod lengthwise and scrape out the pulp. Stir the crème fraîche with the vanilla pulp until smooth and serve with the lukewarm apricot tart tatin.
It goes well with unsweetened crème fraîche. With its fresh acidity it balances the sweetness of the tart so beautifully. It is really important to keep the resting time of 2 minutes before overturning the tart. This way the juice of the apricots can harden a little. If they fall too early, the tart melts and the hot juice scalds their fingers. But please do not wait longer than 2 minutes – otherwise the caramel hardens and the tart cannot be removed from the baking tin.
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