rhubarb frangipane tartlets

rhubarb frangipane tartlets

• 26 Sept 2016

When I was in Paris, I did a tiny bit of shopping but not for clothes. The only things that came home with me were linen napkins from the Conran Shop, six glass tumblers from Merci and some tartlet forms from La Bovida. Sunday morning I was up bright and early removing all the pesky adhesive labels from the tartlet forms because it was time to christen them.




I decided to make some frangipane tartlets. This recipe is an oldie but a goodie and one that I've made with lots of different fruit toppings.



Rhubarb is in season and plentiful here so I topped the frangipane tartlets with some oven baked rhubarb. The rhubarb compote lasts a week in the fridge so you can make it well in advance.



If it's not rhubarb season where you live, plums are an excellent topping as are pears, sliced figs or any kind of berry.



Here's the recipe for you. For all my recipes, I use a 250 ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon. All eggs are 60 grams and my oven is a conventional gas oven, so if your oven is fan forced, you may need to reduce your oven temperature by 20°C.



Rhubarb Frangipane Tartlets – makes eight 7cm tartlets

Filling
1 bunch rhubarb, washed, trimmed of tough strands and cut into 2 cm chunks
4 tbs caster sugar
Thinly peeled rind and juice of ½ orange
1 cinnamon stick

Pastry
110 g (4 oz) cold unsalted butter, diced
¼ cup icing sugar (confectioner’s sugar)
¼ cup almond meal
1⅓ cups plain flour
1 egg, lightly beaten
Cold water

Frangipane
75 gm (2½ oz) unsalted butter
75 gm (2½ oz) caster sugar
1 large egg
75 gm almond meal
1 tbs plain flour
1 tsp grated orange rind

Topping
1 tbs pistachios, coarsely chopped
Optional - Sieved warmed apricot jam

Method
Preheat oven to 200°C. Arrange rhubarb snugly in a baking dish, scatter sugar and orange peel over, drizzle with juice and add the stick of cinnamon. Cover with foil and roast until rhubarb is just tender (15-20 minutes but I start checking at 10 minutes). Set aside to cool. Taste for sweetness before using and adjust to taste, as sometimes the rhubarb can be very tart. You will only need a small quantity of the rhubarb to make this recipe. The rhubarb compote is delicious served with a dollop of Greek yoghurt and I use it to top my muesli.

To make the pastry, combine all the dry ingredients in a food processor, and whiz for a few seconds until well combined and free of lumps. Add the cold butter and whiz until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the egg and sufficient cold water and whiz until a soft dough just starts to form around the blade. Remove the dough from the food processor and gather the pastry into a ball; flatten slightly before wrapping in plastic and placing in the fridge. Refrigerate the pastry for 30 minutes. You’ll only need about half of the pastry dough for this recipe. The pastry freezes well so just wrap the remaining pastry in plastic wrap and store in the freezer.

Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F. Place the dough onto a lightly floured surface (I use greaseproof paper) and roll out thinly with a rolling pin. Grease eight 7 cm tartlet tins. Line the tins with the pastry and trim the edges of the tart tins with a sharp knife. Place the tartlets onto a baking sheet then return to the fridge for another 30 minutes.

While the tartlet shells are chilling, make the frangipane filling. Place butter and caster sugar in a food processor and whizz to combine. Add the egg, the almond meal, the flour and orange rind, then pulse to combine. Evenly divide the frangipane filling between the tarts and sprinkle some of the chopped pistachios over the filling. Spoon a few pieces of the well drained rhubarb over the frangipane.



Place the tray on the middle shelf of the oven. Bake at 190°C/375°F for 30-40 minutes until the frangipane filling has slightly puffed and is golden brown. Baking time will depend on your oven so start checking the tarts after 20 minutes. Remove the tray from the oven and cool the tartlets on a wire rack. Gently remove the tarts from the tins; glaze the rhubarb with some warmed sieved apricot jam if desired. Serve as is though a dollop of cream on the side wouldn’t go astray.



I hope you have fun making these little tarts.

See you all again later in the week with another Sydney wander.

Bye for now,

Jillian