Apricot And Almond Clusters Recipes

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in chips, almonds and apricots., Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls 2 in. apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 7-9 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
• To make the frangipane, place the almonds and the sugar in a food processor and grind until sandy. Add the butter and continue mixing then add the egg, vanilla, and the flour and mix until smooth.
• To make the tart, on a floured work surface pass your rolling pin over the pastry just to flatten any ridges.
• Place it on a parchment paper lined sheet pan and cut out a 9-inch disk. Spread the almond frangipane in the center of the tart leaving a 1-inch border. Firmly place the apricot halves into the frangipane spacing them evenly around the tart. Dot the spaces between the apricots with the whole almonds.
• Bake until golden brown on the top and puffy, about 30 to 40 minutes. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve.

Steps:

• Place a rack in middle of oven; preheat to 425°F. Pulse almonds and 1/3 cup sugar in a food processor until very finely ground. Add egg and pulse to combine. Add butter, almond extract (if using), vanilla extract, salt, and 1 Tbsp. flour; pulse until almond cream is smooth.
• Roll out pastry on a lightly floured surface just to smooth out any creases.
• If you're using a package of pastry that has 2 sheets, stack and roll out to a 1/4"-1/8"-thick rectangle.
• If your package contains a single 16x10" sheet of puff pastry, halve it crosswise and roll out one half on a lightly floured surface until rectangle is 1/4"-1/8" thick; save remaining half for another use. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Fold over edges of pastry to make a 1/2" border around all sides. Prick surface all over with a fork (this keeps the pastry from rising too much when baked and helps it cook through). Spread almond cream over pastry, staying inside borders. (Chill dough in the freezer for a few minutes if it becomes too soft to work with.) Set apricots, cut sides up, on top of almond cream. Sprinkle lightly with sugar.
• Bake galette until pastry is golden brown and puffed, 15-20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325°F and continue to bake until pastry is deep golden brown and cooked through and apricots are softened and browned in spots, 15-20 minutes longer.
• Do Ahead:
• Almond cream can be made 3 days ahead. Cover and chill.

Steps:

• Place the chocolate and honey in a bowl and set over a pan of gently simmering water until the chocolate has melted. Stir in the apricots and almonds.
• Drop teaspoonfuls into mini muffin cups and let set for 2 to 4 hours, or until firm.

Steps:

• Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat; cook and stir onion and carrot until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in basmati rice and salt; cook and stir until rice is slightly opaque, about 3 minutes.
• Pour in water; stir to combine. Mix in saffron threads, rose water, apricots, and almonds; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until rice has absorbed the liquid, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and allow pilaf to stand covered for 10 more minutes. Stir before serving.

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine flour and confectioners' sugar; cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add egg yolk and water; stir until dough forms a ball. Roll into twenty-four 1-in. balls. Press onto the bottoms and up the sides of greased miniature muffin cups., In a small bowl, beat almond paste and butter until blended; beat in egg white and almond extract. Spoon into tart shells, about 2 teaspoons in each., Bake at 350° until golden brown, 20-25 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks. Top with apricot preserves.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter a 9-inch square baking dish. Process almonds and brown sugar in a food processor until almonds are finely chopped. Add butter; process until just combined.
• Place apricot halves, cut sides up, in buttered baking dish. Cover top of each apricot half with almond mixture. Bake until apricots are soft and almond mixture is deep golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer 3 apricot halves to each serving plate. Serve warm.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 375°F. In large bowl, stir cookie base ingredients until soft dough forms. Spread dough in bottom of ungreased 13x9-inch pan. Bake 10 to 15 minutes or until set. Cool 10 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in large bowl, beat almond paste and sugar with electric mixer on low speed until crumbly but blended. Add apricots; beat on low speed just until combined. Add cream cheese, 2 eggs and the lemon juice; beat on medium speed until well blended. Pour over warm cookie base.
• Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until set. Cool 30 minutes.
• Place baking chips in small bowl. In 1-quart saucepan, heat whipping cream just to boiling over low heat, stirring occasionally; pour over baking chips. Let stand 1 minute. Stir until chips are melted and mixture is smooth. Pour and spread over filling. Sprinkle with almonds. Refrigerate about 2 hours or until set. For bars, cut into 9 rows by 4 rows. Store covered in refrigerator.

Steps:

• To make the pastry: in the bowl of a food processor, combine the butter, flour and salt. Pulse until the mixture resembles very fine bread crumbs. Add the confectioners' sugar, egg yolk and 2 tablespoons chilled water, and pulse a few times to bring the mixture together. Pour onto a work surface and knead the dough sparingly until smooth, being careful not to overwork it. Flatten into a disk, wrap in plastic and chill for at least 30 minutes or up to 24 hours.
• To make the frangipane: In a food processor, grind the almonds to a fine powder. Transfer to a bowl. In the food processor, combine 1 cup brown sugar, butter, and vanilla pulp. Process until light and fluffy, then with motor running add the flour and the eggs. Add the ground almonds and pulse to mix evenly. Set aside at room temperature or refrigerate for up to 24 hours. Bring to room temperature and stir before using.
• To assemble: Lightly flour a cool work surface and roll the pastry into a large disk about 1/4-inch thick. Press into a 9-inch tart pan with a removable base and trim the edge. Chill at least 1 hour.
• Heat oven to 325 degrees with a large baking sheet on the middle rack. Spread frangipane in the chilled tart pan, and nestle the apricot halves evenly on top, cut sides up. Sprinkle each half with about 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar. Place the tart on the baking sheet and bake until golden, and set, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. If the top appears to be browning too fast, cover loosely with foil.
• Trim any baked overflow to loosen the edge of the tart. Press up the bottom of the pan to loosen the sides and cool the tart in the pan on a wire rack. When completely cool, serve with crème fraîche or whipped cream.