Chocolate Apricot Tart Recipes

Steps:

• Place an oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Liberally butter the tart pan.
• For the crust: Combine the all-purpose flour, almond flour, almonds, cocoa powder and sugar in a food processor. Process until the almonds are finely ground. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture forms a coarse meal. With the processor running, gradually add 2 tablespoons of iced water until the mixture forms a ball, adding extra water, as needed, if the mixture is too dry. Form the dough into a disc and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.
• Roll out the dough into a 10-inch circle on a lightly floured work surface. Place the dough in the tart pan and trim any excess dough from the top of the pan. If the dough cracks, press scraps of dough into the cracks to seal. Prick the dough all over, using a fork, and bake for 15 minutes. Let the crust cool for 15 minutes.
• For the filling: Place the chocolate and butter in a small bowl over a saucepan of barely simmering water. Stir occasionally until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth. Beat the eggs, liqueur, sugar and vanilla in a medium bowl. Pour the melted chocolate into the egg mixture and whisk until smooth. Pour the filling into the prepared crust. Place the tart pan on a baking sheet and bake until the filing has set and begins to crack slightly on top, 22 to 25 minutes. Allow the tart to cool completely, about 1 hour.
• For the apricot cream: Beat the cream at high speed until stiff peaks form, using a hand mixer. Add the jam and vanilla. Beat until the jam is incorporated into the cream.
• Remove the tart from the pan and cut into thin wedges. Serve with a dollop of apricot cream.

Steps:

• To make the filling, put the apricot pieces in a medium sized bown. Bring the water to a boil and pour over the apricots along with the white wine and the cointreau. Cover and set aside to soak for at least 30 minutes up to an hour.
• Transfer the apricots and their soaking water to a saucepan and add the cinnamon stick and white and brown sugars. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally until the mixture has a thick and jam like consistency, anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour. Set aside to cool. Remove cinnamon stick.
• Pre-heat the oven to 205*C/425*F. Unroll the puff pastry. Cut out five or six 4 inch circles from it with a sharp cutter. Take a smaller 3 inch cuter and make another light indentation in the centre of the circle. (there should be a 1/2 inch border all around) Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle the border with the demerara sugar and then dust with cinnamon lightly.
• Spoon heaping TBS of the filling into the centre of the pastry, spreading it right up to the border indentation. Do not be tempted to overfill as the mixture will spread upon heating in the oven. Sprinkle the toasted almonds over top of each.
• Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the pre-heated oven until the filling is bubbly and the pastry is lightly browned and crisp. Remove from the oven and immediately remove from the pan with a spatula to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Melt the white chocolate in the microwave for 20 to 30 seconds until quite soft and melted. Take a fork and drizzle the white chocolate decoratively across the tarts. Let cool completely before serving.

Steps:

• Place apricots in a shallow dish and cover (just) with boiling water. Allow to sit and soften, they will become raisin-like.
• Meanwhile, combine flour, cinnamon, brown sugar, and salt in a bowl. Add butter in small pieces and mix until mixture looks like coarse sand.
• Beat together egg yolk and lemon juice and pour into flour mixture while mixer is running. Mix well, and if dough seems a little dry, add a little extra lemon juice.
• Now knead mixture gently by hand and form into a ball. Flatten into a disc shape and chill for 10 minutes before using.
• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
• Roll out pastry on a floured surface and place in a 9 inch tart or pie pan, forming it up the sides.
• Prick pastry with a fork, line with tinfoil and place a pie weight on top. If you don't have a pie weight, simply line with foil, and place a heavy baking dish right on top of the foil. This will prevent the pastry from puffing up while baking, and keep it tart-like.
• Bake 15 minutes, remove foil and weight and bake for 5 minutes longer.
• Reduce oven temp to 375 degrees.
• Place ground almonds on a cookie sheet and bake for 3 minutes, cool.
• Drain water off apricots. If using whole apricots, cut each apricot into 6-8 small pieces.
• Combine almonds, butter, sugar and chopped apricots in a bowl.
• Add salt, eggs and reserved egg white and mix well.
• Pour onto cooled baked tart shell and bake 25 minutes or until set.
• Place orange slices on top. Melt jam on stove and brush top of tart with glaze.
• Bring whipping cream to a slow boil in a pan, stirring often. Pour over chopped white chocolate and stir until chocolate is smooth and melted.
• Cool completely in refrigerator to let mixture become thicker.
• Cut and serve tart, stir cold chocolate cream mixture again and drizzle over tart portions on plate.