Prune And Almond Tart Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375. In a bowl, pour the hot tea over the halved prunes, and let the fruit rehydrate while you make the almond filling.
• Put almonds, sugar and salt in a food processor, and pulse just until ground (be careful not to overprocess, or the filling will become a hard paste). Add the butter, eggs, brandy and almond essence, if using, and pulse just until smooth.
• Drain prunes well, pressing out any excess liquid with your hands, and place in the tart shell, more or less in an even layer. Spoon on the almond mixture, smoothing it with the back of the spoon, then sprinkle over remaining sliced almonds. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the top is a nice golden brown. Dust with icing sugar, and let cool before serving.

Steps:

• At least one hour before preparing the tart, pour the hot tea over the prunes and set aside to marinate.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
• Prepare the cream filling. In a spice grinder or the bowl of a food processor, grind the almonds to a fine powder. Thoroughly blend the almonds with the egg, sugar, brandy and cream. The mixture should be very smooth.
• Thoroughly drain the prunes, discarding the soaking liquid. Carefully arrange the prunes in the cooled, prebaked tart shell. This will seem like a lot of prunes, and you may have to arrange them in two layers. Pour the cream filling over the prunes and place the tart in the center of the oven.
• Bake until the cream filling has set and the tart shell is nicely browned, about 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with confectioners' sugar.

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 190C / 375°F.
• Process 125g diced chilled butter, 25g caster sugar and the grated orange rind in a food processor until it resembles breadcrumbs. Turn into a bowl.
• Mix 30ml water and the egg yolk, blend into the mixtureand knead lightly to form a ball; wrap and chill for about 30 minutes.
• Roughly chop the prunes, grate the apple and pour over the Calvados.
• Melt the remaining butter and mix with the ground almonds, beaten eggs and remaining caster sugar.
• Roll the pastry thinly and line 23 cm (9inch) round 4cm (11/4inch) deep, loose based, fluted flan tin. Bake blind until set.
• Add the prunes and apple to the almond mixture and spoon into the flan case. Sprinkle with slivered almonds and bake for 30 minutes or until lightly browned.
• Leave to cool for about 20 minutes.
• Melt the jam with 15ml (1tbsp) orange juice, when bubbling, sieve, then brush over the top of the tart.
• Serve warm or cold with Greek yogurt or creme fraiche.

Steps:

• Line a 30 cm tart tin with pastry and prick with a fork. Bake blind in the oven at 180°C for 15 minutes or until done.
• Meanwhile tip the prunes, demerarra sugar and wine in a saucepan and simmer for 5 - 10 minutes or until the prunes have absorbed the wine. Set aside to cool, then stuff each prune with broken chocolate.
• Cream the butter and sugar until pale, beat in the eggs one at a time until well incorporated.
• Stir in the ground almonds.
• Spoon the almond filling into the cooked shell and scatter around the prunes, pressing down lightly. Bake the tart in the oven at 180°C for 20 - 30 minutes or until coloured.
• Cool in the tin for 10 minutes before removing the tart. Sprinkle with ground cinnamon.

Steps:

• Put the prunes and brandy in a small bowl and leave to steep for about 30 minutes until most of the brandy has been absorbed.
• Preheat the oven to 190C/Gas 5/fan oven 170C. Grease a 23cm/9in loose-bottomed cake tin or springform tin. Put the cocoa, chocolate, butter and 140g/5oz of the sugar in a pan, add 100ml/31⁄2fl oz hot water and gently heat until the mixture is smooth. Leave to cool slightly.
• Whisk the egg whites to soft peaks, then gradually whisk in the remaining sugar. Sift the flour and cinnamon over and gently fold in with a metal spoon, until almost combined. Add the chocolate mix and fold in until evenly combined.
• Pour the mixture into the tin and arrange the prunes over the top (they will sink into the sponge during baking). Sprinkle over any remaining brandy and bake for about 30 minutes until just firm. Serve with cream or crème fraîche.