Nectarine Frangipane Tart

Ingredients

1 sheet shortcrust pastry 150g butter or equiv. 100g caster sugar Zest of ½ lemon ½ tsp vanilla essence 1 tsp orange blossom water ½ tsp almond essence 2 eggs 150g almond meal 20g plain flour 3-4 nectarines, halved Apricot jam to coat pastry Icing sugar for dusting

Summary

1. Thaw pastry sheet a little & roll it out, so it covers a baking tin. Use a tart tin with a removal base for convenience.
2. Carefully press pastry sheet into tin, removing excess pastry at the edges. Blind bake pastry in a preheated 180˚C oven for 12-15 mins.
3. To prepare the filling, cream butter and sugar with a fork until sugar dissolves.
4. Put lemon zest, almond & vanilla essence, and orange blossom water into a bowl, add the eggs and beat with a fork.
5. Combine mixture little by little with a whisk into the butter mixture.
6. Add the almond meal and flour to the combined egg & butter mixture, stirring through with a whisk.
7. When pastry is ready, melt about 2 Tbs of apricot jam in a small saucepan, then brush over the pastry, making sure to coat the sides.
8. Pour frangipane filling into the pastry casing, and press nectarine halves into the mixture. Bake for 1 hour. Leave to cool.
9. When tart is cool, dust with icing sugar to serve.