Florentine Tarts with Frangipane filling

You must be kidding me! These kids are cooking like professionals. Look at their plates..their presentation.. are they supposed be between 9-11 years ?!! 

If you have been an ardent Masterchef fan then you must have felt the same when their junior series began.

To tell you the truth me and Vishal didn't even bother to watch it. We thought it must be a kiddie show till one day we accidently watched one episode. These kids were handling their dishes like seasoned chefs and were churning out amazing dishes, one episode after the other. They knew all the culinary words that we are still unaware of and were so confident in challenges. 

Among my favourite's was Sophia who with all her sweetness would create unbelievable dishes. I remember this particular episode where she was in a pressure test with Cassidy. These girls came up with an amazing effort re-creating the Florentine tarts with frangipane filling. How heavenly it looked esp with the honey coated cornflakes and cherry topping. I had never heard of a frangipane filling and so got a chance to learn something new. Needless to mention it instantly entered my 'Must try' list.

 A Frangipane is basically a sweet filling made with almonds and can be used in pies or tarts. It gives a very soft cakey textured filling to the crispy tart. 

Ingredients: I have reduced the quantity by a third to get 4 tarts sized 3x1"

For sable pastry:

• 75 gm refined flour
• 25 gm icing sugar(or powdered sugar)
• Pinch of salt
• 50 gm unsalted butter,chilled and diced
• 2-3 tbsp beaten egg(for kneading the dough)

For frangipane:

• 14 gm unsalted butter
• 14 gm powdered sugar
• 1 egg + 1 egg white
• 20 gm almond meal (powdered blanched almonds)

For topping:

• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp flaked or chopped almonds
• 4-5 glaced cherries chopped
• 1/2 cup cornflakes, slightly crushed
• chocolate sauce, to drizzle

Procedure:

Pastry:

Sift flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add butter and rub until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. 
Mix in the egg one tbsp at a time and knead the dough. (Do not pour the entire quantity of egg at once. Use as much required to knead the dough)
Refrigerate the dough wrapped in plastic or in a cling wrap film to rest for 30 mins.
Roll the dough as thin as possible on a lightly floured surface and line your tart tins by trimming excess dough. Make holes with the help of a fork on the sides and bottom of pastry on the tart tins and refrigerate for another 30 mins.
Preheat oven to 180 degree Celsius and bake for 15 mins or till the tarts get a light brown colour. 

(Check my Spinach and sweetcorn tartlets for a step by step illustration to roll and line a tart tin)

Frangipane:

Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius.
Add butter and sugar and blend well till it becomes thick and creamy. Add egg and egg white and process till combined. Add almond meal and mix well.
Spoon this frangipane mixture in the tart shells evenly filling till the top.
Bake for 10 mins or till the frangipane mixture gets a light brown colour. Remove and cool.


Topping:
Combine honey, sugar and butter in a saucepan and stir over medium heat till sugar dissolves and the mixture becomes foamy. Add almonds, cherries and cornflakes and stir gently till combined well.
Spoon a big helping on the tarts and drizzle some chocolate sauce on top.

  

We had these tarts for tea and the verdict was a collective 'Crunch' from the crispy topping followed by a long 'Ummmm' !! The filling was soft like a cake with the tart and topping both very crispy. Definitely on my list to make and serve again.

Happy Tart-eating
Amrita

Sending this recipe to a great and enjoyable event-Cook like a star- Masterchef series hosted by three incredible bloggers Zoe@Bake for happy kids, Baby Sumo@Eat your heart out and Anuja@simple baking  

Sending this recipe to Bake fest#11
 to Fun-Fair Food Event
and to Best tart/tartlet