Something wonderful with almond paste and stone fruit?

[dordogne]

Nectarines are still at peak, as are pluots (but apricots had their typically fleeting season, or even shorter, this year). Any recipes with almond paste and/or ground almonds, perhaps something easy like a galette?

[Caitlin McGrath]

I've been making this tart for years with all kinds of fruits that complement almonds. (It calls for peaches but use anything you want.) It's also dead easy. Its filling uses blanched slivered almonds that are blended together with other ingredients (eggs, flour, butter, amaretto) and ground in the process, and baked in the crust, to form a solid filling that's a bit like a less sweet marzipan (the tart's called Peach Frangipane tart on Epicurious, but the filling isn't a custard). Then, you arrange sliced raw fruit on the filling and glaze with heated preserves. If you want to use cooked fruit, you can poach, roast, or grill it first, then put it on the tart. Nectarines, plums, and pluots are all wonderful with this almond filling - just use whatever you feel would complement as a glaze, or if you've cooked the fruit, no glaze if you'd prefer.

The recipe calls for a supermarket piecrust, but obviously you may replace it with anything you'd prefer, whether purchased or homemade. A tart crust like the one in the Epicurious recipe linked in my post above (referencing the streusel) is wonderful, but a regular pie crust or whatever sort you prefer to use for a galette would also work.

This tart is very adaptable, and it has always received rave reviews.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/rec...

As an aside, in addition to stone fruit, I have also used strawberries. I've baked poached pears and cranberries into the filling, then glazed with apricot jam and trimmed with toasted sliced almonds, for a holiday version. For last year's SF Chowing with the Hounds picnic, to showcase some spectacular organic raspberries that I wanted to keep naked, I spread a thin coat of bittersweet chocolate ganache over the almond filling and placed the raspberries on top. This really is one of my favorite tart recipes, and it is truly adaptable to any fruit that complements almonds (and there are many!).

[lisacs]

Dordogne, there is a wonderful-sounding nectarine and frangipane tart in the September issue of Gourmet--bet you could use pluots or (next year) apricots, too. Was thinking of grabbing some nectarines and the can of almond paste in my cupboard and trying it out.

[Funwithfood]

Below are posts on one of the best desserts I have made; Raspberry-Almond Crostada. You could easily substitute stone fruit...

Raspberry-Almond Paste Crostada--Original Post:
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/283020?user_name=&query=raspberry+crostada

Recipe Here:
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/...

[Bzdhkap]

Procrastibaker, could you please provide the recipe, or epicurious link for this marzipan streusel, I can't seem to find it. It sounds yummy!
Thanks so much!

<<about 14 hours ago Procrastibaker replied:
Then I made (in the food processor) a kind of marzipan streusal with brown sugar, butter, marzipan and a bit of salt (recipe for the streusel is on Epicurious). I sprinkled the crumbles on the tarte and baked until golden. It came out beautifully. I had streusal leftover and Mr. Procrastibaker put them on top of oatmeal this morning then slipped it under the broiler to brown. Yum!>>

[Caitlin McGrath]

I'm fairly positive Procrastibaker used the streusel from this Epicurious recipe (for a plum tart of the very same concept): http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/rec...

[Procrastibaker]

Yes, the link above is correct for the streusel I made! Enjoy.

[cheryl_h]

I made several peach desserts with almonds or almond paste this summer. This is one (with nectarines but will work with other stone fruits):

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/rec...

[PBSF]

Stuffed Peaches or Nectarines
Blanch the peaches and remove skin; I don't do it with nectarines.
Halve the fruits and remove seed.
Spoon some almond paste into each cavity. Crumble a few amaretti cookies or plain biscotti and sprinkle on top. Dot with a little butter.
Bake in a buttered baking dish until fruit is soft but not mushy, about 25 minutes. Can baste with a little marsala or orange juice.
Serve warm garnished with toasted sliced almond. Great with vanilla or almond ice cream or cold zabaglione.

[oakjoan]

One of the good things that came out of a dinner party which left me semi-crazed was a magnif plum tart/torte. It had a dough with lots of butter, almond meal or ground almonds, eggs, flour, sugar all molded into the bottom of a fluted tart pan. It's then refrig for at least 2 hours to overnight. Then in go cut up plums (and pluots in my case) and it's topped with a sort of crumble crust with ground almonds, almond paste, sugar, flour etc. It's amazing.

If anybody wants the recipe, let me know.

[smsliu]

I would love this recipe!!

[dordogne]

Yes, please. Almonds in both the dough and the topping sounds wonderful; your guests must have been semi-crazed with pleasure.

[Stari]

Has the recipe been posted?

[Procrastibaker]

I recently made a good tart with Damson plums. The crust was Rose Levy Berenbaum's sweet cookie crust, but any short-bread-like crust would work (you could even add a bit of almond extract for extra almond umph). I then mixed some diced plums with about 1 t of corn starch and some sugar (to your taste-- my plums were pretty tart) and spread it on the crust, then sliced the rest and arranged them in a nice circular pattern (a la tarte tatin). Then I made (in the food processor) a kind of marzipan streusal with brown sugar, butter, marzipan and a bit of salt (recipe for the streusel is on Epicurious). I sprinkled the crumbles on the tarte and baked until golden. It came out beautifully. I had streusal leftover and Mr. Procrastibaker put them on top of oatmeal this morning then slipped it under the broiler to brown. Yum!

[La Dolce Vita]

Oh, heavens! Streusel on oatmeal sounds too delicious! I can't wait to try this on the weekend. Thanks for the tip!

[Sam Ottawa]

Same vein, but simpler - a rustic puff pastry tart - roll out dough, score edge, bush with melted butter, drop fruit and blobs of almond paste in random pattern all over, sprinkle a bit of vanilla sugar on top & bake. Yum.

[Procrastibaker]

This sounds delish...

[mielimato]

There is a recipe in Bittman's How to Cook Everything that is wonderful--free-form tart, I think. I've made exactly this recipe with pears and almond paste and some chopped toasted almonds for crunch. It was delicious!

[chococat]

I'd make a tart shell, spread a bit of almond paste on the bottom, arrange some thinly sliced fruit on top and glaze with some melted jelly. I guess you could thin out the almond paste with some whipped cream or pastry cream if you wanted but I bet it would be fine by itself.

[Katie Nell]

This recipe for Upside Down Plum Cake uses plums and almond extract, not paste, but it is wonderful! It's a really easy recipe too. Everyone I make this for loves it! https://www.marthastewart.com/page.jh...