Apricot Tart (or Blueberries) by Pierre Hermé

When I was having my Macaron Madness, I found in Google an Apricot Almond Tarte from Pierre Herme. It was love at first sight, and I had my last apricots of the seasons in the fridge.....

I found the recipe in the excellent blog of   Valerie Cuisine Merci Valerie!

I have done this tarte twice, first with apricots then with blueberries.. The first one as the recipe instructs, and the second time with a vanilla custard that has less egg yolk. I just made my regular vanilla custard, and I found no differences in taste with the first one. I think the key is the combination of the almond cream with the vanilla custard that makes a velvety texture.

Tarte aux Abricots (or Blueberries) de Pierre Hermé

 250 g of puff pastry (prefer it homemade, it really has nothing to do)
 180 g almond cream (see recipe below)
 1.1 kg of ripe apricots
 4 tablespoons apricot glaze

For the almond cream
 135 g butter
 165 g icing sugar
 165 g of almond powder
 10 g cornstarch
 1 tablespoon Rum (I didn't use it)
 2 eggs
 300 g  vanilla custard

For the custard (from the original recipe)
 1/2 liter of fresh whole milk
 45 g cornstarch
 125 g of caster sugar
 6 egg yolks
 50 g butter
 2 vanilla beans

Prepare the custard: put the cornstarch in a saucepan with half the sugar and pour the milk and stir it. Split the vanilla bean and scrape the inside with a small knife pods and put in saucepan, bring to a boil, whisking.

In a second saucepan, whisk the egg yolks with the remaining sugar, about 3 minutes. Pour in a thin stream, the contents of the first pot continues to run with the whip. Bring the cream to a boil and remove from heat immediately after the first broth. Remove the vanilla cream then dive into a container filled with ice (I did not).

When the cream has cooled and reached 50 ° C, add the butter, turning sharply with the whip (I did not set). Cool and set aside.

When the custard has cooled, prepare the almond cream: Mix the icing sugar, almond powder and cornstarch; sift. Put the butter in a bowl and the mixing with a spatula so that it softens without lather.

When the butter has the desired consistency, add the almond-sugar mixture, cornstarch, then eggs, one at a time, stirring constantly with a spatula until the first egg is incorporated before adding the next. Pour the rum and then 300 g of cooled custard.

When the preparation is homogeneous cease to work. Cover with film and refrigerate until ready to use.

Roll out the pastry to a thickness of 2 mm, 30 minutes to cool, then lift out and line a pie plate 22 cm in diameter. (I used a mold of 26 cm in diameter, so I certainly used to advantage and benefit apricot cream).

Prick the bottom of many shots fork and slide the tart in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 185 ° C.

Once the dough has rested, cook in white, covered with a sheet of paper filled with sulfurized apricot kernels or dried vegetables. Slide the tart in the oven for 12 minutes at 185 ° C. After this time, remove the paper and vegetables or cores in it and cook the dough, only about 5 minutes, until slightly golden.

Spread 180 g almond cream on the dough (I used more than 180 g), cut the fruit into two, remove the kernel-apricot halves have rosette, skin side down, in the interweaving each other.

Put the pie in the oven for 22-25 minutes (I left my pie in the oven for about 45 minutes), until the fruit caramelize slightly. At the exit of the oven, spread on a thin layer of fruit apricot glaze with a brush.

ENJOY!!