Cranberry Frangipane Tart

I am SO excited to be sharing this recipe with you today.  Baked for a family Sunday lunch the other week, I am already looking forward to the next time I can bake this delicious tart!  I LOVE the flavours, the texture and the overall look of the tart and for me at least, the cranberry paired with the almond flavour couldn't be a better combination!

For me, cranberries are the perfect Summer into Autumn fruit, and they're only just making their way onto the shelves freshly picked.  Sadly the weekend I baked this they weren't ready yet and fresh cranberries weren't anywhere to be found, but frozen ones did the job, and next time I'll definitely try fresh ones just to compare!

I used an Anna Olson recipe for this tart, but adapted the recipe a little as I went, as well as making a bigger tart than she did - which meant some maths to figure out ingredients and how much of everything I would need for the tart pan size I had but everything worked out so I guess my calculations were correct!  I used her Cranberry Frangipane Tart recipe along with her Nut-Crust Tart Shell which was delicious, from her 'Back to Baking' book that I love, but I'll share the recipe how I prepared it :-)

For the Nut-Crust Tart Shell (to fit an 11-inch tart pan) -

Ingredients:

1/2 cup ground almonds
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
3/8 tsp salt
9 tbsp cold and cubed unsalted butter (1/2 cup + 2 tsp)
2.5 tbsp cold water

Method:

1.  In a mixing bowl, mix together the ground almonds, flour, sugar and salt until combined.

 

2.  Add the butter and using a pastry blender (or fingertips...or food processor) combine with the dry ingredients until it has a sandy, breadcrumb texture.

 

3.  Add the cold water and mix together with a fork until the dough comes together in a ball.

4.  Shape the dough into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap (cling-film) and chill the dough until it is firm, at least an hour.

5.  Preheat the oven to 350°F. 

6.  On a lightly floured surface, break the chilled dough into 4 pieces and then push them together, kneading them to soften them slightly (Anna tells me; this will make it easier to roll the dough without cracking it).

 

 

7.  Roll out the dough until it is just under 1/4 inch thick and carefully lift it to line an 11-inch, removable-bottom tart pan.  Press the crust into the corners and trim away any excess dough.  Chill the dough for 10 minutes.

 

 

8.  Pierce the bottom of the dough with a fork, place the tart pan on a baking tray, and bake it for 25 to 30 minutes, until the crust is golden brown around the edges, and the pastry is dry in the centre.

9.  Let the tart shell cool and fill it soon after.

 

When I baked the crust, I was surprised that the edges shrunk lower than how high the actual edges of the pan were.  Next time I try this I will bake it with pie weights to see if that helps it keep it's shape.  

And now, the cranberry frangipane filling!

Ingredients:

1 cup ground almonds
1 cup sugar
1 1/8 cup unsalted butter
1 1/2 eggs
1 1/2 egg yolk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/8 tsp almond extract
1/8 ground cinnamon
2 1/4 cups cranberries (fresh or frozen - thawed)
1 1/2 tbsp flour (if using frozen)

Method:

1.  Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Place the pan containing the crust onto a baking tray.

2.  Mix together the ground almonds and sugar, and add the butter, egg, egg yolk, extracts and cinnamon and mix until evenly blended.

 

3.  Transfer the almond filling to a bowl.  If using thawed frozen cranberries, toss them with 1 1/2 tablespoons of flour.

 

 

4.  Stir the cranberries into the almond filling and scrape the filling into the cooled crust.

 

5.  Bake on the tray for 50 - 60 minutes, until the filling is set and evenly browned.  Cool to room temperature in the pan before removing the outer ring of the pan.

6.  When fully cooled, carefully transfer the tart onto a serving platter and slice - serving at room temperature. 
 

I did find that there was some leakage of the tart filling - perhaps my cranberries were too big and I ended up with too much volume in the tart, or maybe it was because of my shrinking tart crust edges that it wouldn't hold as much, but luckily it didn't effect the taste or texture, there was just a little I had t cut off the edge of one section of the tart edge before serving, but no big deal!  I wont add it all next time if I think it may happen again.

 

 

My parents will be visiting us in October, and a request was already made on my Instagram sneak peek for a re-bake of this, and I loved it so much I will definitely bake it again for them to try ... and for me and Jonathan to enjoy again as well!!

Plum and Almond Thanksgiving Tart

Happy Thanksgiving!  This week I celebrated my 4th Canadian Thanksgiving!  For me I love having the long weekend in October after what usually is a crazy back-to-school time in September and by this point having a weekend off is great news!  This year we spent the dinner at Jonathan's cousins house, celebrating Thanksgiving and a birthday in one meal!

I wanted to bake something to match the season and there was something I had been wanting to try for a while.  In a small 'Dessert' recipe book from my Grandma was a recipe for Plum and Almond Tart.  I had originally wanted to make it for a church lunch event but decided it a) might not slice into small squares well, and b) would probably be better warm so I had to wait.

Living a busy life with just the two of us - it is hard to justify baking a big cake or dessert without a reason - should we REALLY finish off a big cake just for ourselves in a regular week?  Maybe yes but likely no!!

So I had to wait until now to experiment with this recipe.

As the recipe was from a book and not the internet I scanned in the original page so you can see the recipe and get an idea of what the picture looked like (hopefully the scan is okay to view).

Double click for a bigger view of this picture - hopefully
you can read the recipe - let me know if you
want more details!

This was a FUN recipe to make.  Again, as in my Cherry Bakewell Tart post I made my own pastry.  I believe ready-made sweetcrust pastry is easier to find in English supermarkets but not here in Canadian grocery stores!  And so instead of searching multiple shops I decided it probably would be quicker just to make my own.  I tried Anna Olson's method of making pastry, rubbing the butter and flour between my hands, almost flattening it to create layers of butter within the pastry.  Seemed to work really well!  Thanks Anna!

I did omit the brandy from the recipe - didn't want to include this strong flavour in my tart as I LOVE the almond flavour so wanted to make sure that shone through.

After making the almond paste I was a little worried that there wouldn't be enough to fill up around the plums which definitely seemed bigger than the original picture in the recipe book.  Hmmm.  Surprising to me was the way it did fill up and puff around the plums.  It became slightly spongey whilst still being moist.  A different texture than I had baked before but with the almond flavour it tasted really good!  

Post-oven!

Pre-oven...

Enjoy this tart warm with whipped cream... I certainly did!

Happy Thanksgiving!