Plum Almond Tartlets

Plum Almond Tartlets
 
Recipe from Gourmet, August 2007
Notes: I haven't made individual desserts in a while using my tartlet molds, and these tarts sounded like a tasty way to use up some prune plums I have. The crust calls for fraisage, kneading the little pea-sized bits of butter and shortening so that smear and produce a flaky pastry. I found the chilled dough a bit too dry, so maybe more fat and water next time. But seeing as how good and foolproof the Cook's Illustrated vodka pie crust is, why bother with any other crust? This filling is really an almond frangipane, made with natural almonds with the skin on. I only made a few minor substitutions, replacing Amaretto with Talea Amaretto Cream and adding 1 tbsp brandy to the plums. The tarts came out pretty tasty, the tart-sweet contrast being the best part. Toasting the almonds would have brought out more of their flavour, as would a teaspoon of almond extract. However, the crust is pretty bland and I would use another one next time.

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