PLUM FRANGIPANE PUFF TART

SERVES: 4

PREP TIME: 20 minutes

COOKING TIME: 25 minutes

Frangipane is one of my favorite flavours. When I was young, my mum kept Dutch frangipane biscuits in the cupboard. I remember them coming in a fancy packet from the Dutch shop in Henderson. They were expensive, so as kids we were never allowed near them unless we had some special guests coming over. The taste of the frangipane-flavoured filling within the biscuit was out of this world.

These days, I get my mixer out and make my own, but this delicious tart is even easier.

INGREDIENTS

125g butter, softened

125g caster sugar

3 eggs

125g ground almonds

1 tbsp plain flour

2 sheets frozen puff pastry

6 plums (canned or fresh), de-stoned

and halved

150ml balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp brown sugar

150ml crème fraiche handful mint leaves to garnish

METHOD

1 Preheat the oven to 180°C.

2 Beat one of the eggs with a fork to make an egg wash. Brush this around the edge of one of the sheets of puff pastry.

3 Cut a 5cm-wide ‘frame’ from the other pastry sheet and lay this on top of the egg-washed sheet. Pinch the edges together and prick the centre of the pastry with a fork.

4 Lay the pastry sheets on a baking tray lined with baking paper, then spread out half the plums with the cut side facing up.

5 In a food processor, blitz the butter, sugar, two eggs, almonds, and flour. Spoon this mix into the centre of the pastry sheets. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Allow to cool.

6 Add the balsamic and brown sugar to a small saucepan and heat until you have reduced it to a thick liquid, about 3 tbsp. Mix 1 tbsp through the crème fraiche.

7 Coat the remaining plums in the rest of the balsamic-brown sugar reduction. Spoon these over the tart, along with the crème fraiche. Garnish with mint leaves.