Peach Almond Cream Tart

Peaches are in season and once again a friend dropped off a bounty of peaches and plums. I saw a post on Instagram of individual peach tarts and decide right then I was going to make a peach tart. It looked like they may have added a cream to the tart. As live in an almond orchard valley in Central California, you would think almonds would be cheap here, but I've yet to find that. So I decide i was going to figure out how to make almond cream. After a little research I decide to mash up a few recipes to make this delicious Peach Almond Cream recipe. Enjoy this summer delight.

1. Pastry Tart Crust

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon sugar

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) cold butter (small cubes for easier mixing)

2. Almond Cream

7 ounces almond paste (usually sold on the baking aisle of major grocery stores. In the US it comes in tubes or small 8 oz boxes)

1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoons flour

1/8 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons Amaretto

3. Peaches and Sugar

2-4 medium peaches, peeled and thinly sliced

1 tablespoon Turbinado sugar

Handful sliced almonds

1. Pastry: I use my Cuisinart food processor for this, its the fastest easiest way to make this happen. You could use a pastry cutter and then do a little kneading, into a ball, just be careful to not over knead. For the pastry, place the flour, salt and sugar in the food processor fitted with the steel blade. Pulse to mix the dry ingredients a few seconds and then add the butter (I cube my butter into small pieces with a knife before putting it the processor), and pulse 10 - 12 times. While the motor is running pour in 1/2 cup of ice water down the feed tube. You will see the pastry quickly comes together into a ball. Dump this onto a floured surface and make sure you knead this into a ball, mine just about always is already in a ball, I just pat it together and wrap in plastic and refrigerate for an hour.

When ready to use take out of the refrigerator for a few minutes before rolling it out. I roll out the tart out just big enough to fit on my cookie sheet. I use either parchment paper or silicone sheet to line my cookie sheet. Fold over the edges to make a nice crust or leave flat.

2. Almond Cream: Place almond paste and butter in a food processor and blend. Add eggs and process until smooth. Add sugar, flour, salt, and Amaretto; process until combined. Pour the almond cream on your rolled out pastry dough. Smooth it a nice even layer over the entire tart (Not the folded over crust if you choose that route)

3. Add sliced peaches in a few rows. Be creative on how you want them to lay out. I like them in long rows. Sprinkle with the Turbinado sugar and almond slices and put in the oven.

Bake for 45 minutes to an hour in a 400 degree oven. Cool, slice and EAT.

Chocolate Creme Fraiche Tart

I know I teased you all this week on Instagram, but I wasn't really trying.  I just took all my pictures of the above Chocolate tart for the blog and promptly sat down and ate it when I was done. Then I looked over at my fabulous plate from England and saw I had practically licked it clean. So here today is my Chocolate Creme Fraiche Tart. I know rich right and yes RIGHT and so good.  

I know you all go buy the Creme Fraiche at Trader Joes, I cannot be the only one. I use this stuff for everything. Mixed with Tapatio for quesadillas, or chicken taquitos. Mixed with sugar and lemon zest for french toast and whatever else I can come up with. This time when I took the package off I noticed there were recipes on the back. So I thought, I'm having dinner with my friend, she loves chocolate, I love Creme Fraiche. It's a match made in my kitchen. 

Chocolate Creme Fraiche Tart

1/2 cup milk (I used whole milk, cause why not) 

7 oz chopped bittersweet chocolate (I used Ghiradelli) 

1 large egg yolk

7/12 ounces of Creme Fraiche

9 inch tart pastry (I made my own, recipe found below, but you can use a pre-baked pastry shell if that's easier for you) 

Preheat the oven to 325.

Lightly whip egg yolk with the Creme Fraiche and set aside. Bring milk to a boil, stir continuously. Turn off heat and add chocolate to milk. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Slowly add egg and Creme Fraiche mixture to the chocolate mixture and stir thoroughly. 

Place the pastry into a 9 inch tar pan and pour in the chocolate Creme Fraiche mixture. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove tart from oven and cool to room temperature. Chill in refrigerator for at last one hour before serving. Serves 8.

Tart Pastry

1 1/4 cups (6 1/2 oz/ 200g) cups all purpose flour

1 tbsp sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (4 oz/125 g)  unsalted butter, chilled

2 tbsp, or more, cold water

I used a food processor, but you can do this by hand using a pastry blender. 

Place the flour, sugar and salt in the processor. Cut the butter into small pices and add them. Process using rapid pulses until mixture resembles small crumbs or flakes. Add 1 tbsp of water and process a couple of seconds. Add additional tbsps of water untill it is damp enough to form a rough mass. 

Dump the dough onto a piece of clear plastic wrap and form into a cake. I wrapped mine up and let it sit in the refrigerator to cool for 30 minutes. After that pull it out, roll it to a nice round circle and form it into your tart pan. I like to use removable bottom steel tart pans, but use what your used to.

I enjoyed this tart with a cup of coffee in the morning and well a cup of tea in the afternoon. Whatever works for you it was delicious the next day. 

Apples

Where did last year go. It was a busy year for me and not a lot of posting going on. It's when I finally have time off I get a chance to reflect on why I started this blog. First of all it was a chance to pick up my camera more often and take pictures of the things I love. Food. Travel. And the wonderful things that make Life so great, partly more food and more travel. At least I'm honest.

This year I hope to post more often.  My friend at eatdrinknbemerry told me yesterday, you need to pick up your camera more.  He is so right.  I promise more pictures.

SB and I have a pending trip to London and Paris. I'm sure I'll have lots to share, maybe even get a picture of SB on this blog. One can always hope he'll give in, but if not, no worries, we'll have plenty to tell.

Last year was a good year, we finally reached a spiritual goal that we've been working towards for many years. We look forward to whatever the future holds for us. Our motto, "go thru the doors that are open and stop trying to push the ones that are closed." So we hope to continue to live by that thought.

What else have I been doing this past month. Quite a bit of baking and cooking, yay! Also with a few days off from regular life I had time to organize closets, shelves, books, and all kinds of stuff. I tossed out a few old cooking magazines and reminded myself of recipes I've longed too try. On visiting a friend she laid out a forty clove garlic chicken for herself to make and handed me Ina Garten's French Apple Tart to try. So I've made it 3 times since the last week of December.

Did you know that there are 7,500 varieties of apples ranging in color from red to gold, yellow to green, and being slightly larger than cherry and can be as big as a grapefruit. Approximately 2,500 are grown here in American. I found that amazing, I had no idea, as I've only touched probably only 6 - 8 different types of apples. I personally love apples with peanut butter, usually a gala apple. Really though, I like anything with peanut butter.

So here's a picture of my french apple tart (this is the 2nd time). I have to say the 3rd was the prettiest, and was taken to a pot-luck dinner at my bosses house. I forgot to take a picture as I was so worried about getting it transported there without making a mess.

If you want to make it, the recipe is found

here

.