Date and almond tart recipe

Ingredients

• 7 oz (200 g) plain flour
• 1 tbsp icing sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 3½ oz (100 g) chilled butter, diced
• 1 egg, beaten

• 3½ oz (100 g) butter
• 3½ oz (100 g) caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 4½ oz (125 g) ground almonds
• 10–12 Medjool dates or 16–20 smaller ones (such as deglet nour), stoned and halved

• 2 oz (50 g) apricot jam
• ⅛ lemon juice

1. Sift the flour, icing sugar and salt into a bowl and rub in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add half the beaten egg and, using your hands, bring the dough together, adding a little more egg if it is too dry.
2. If you are making the pastry in a food processor, sift in the flour, icing sugar and salt and add the butter. Whiz for a few seconds, then add half the beaten egg and continue to whiz for just a few more seconds until it comes together. You might need to add a little more egg, but don’t add too much – it should just come together. Don’t over-process the pastry or it will be tough and heavy. Reserve the remaining beaten egg for brushing over the finished pastry.
3. Without kneading the dough, carefully shape it into a 1–2 cm (½–¾in) thick round, using your hands to flatten it. Cover with cling film and place in the fridge to chill for about 30 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F), Gas mark 4.
5. Take the pastry out of the fridge and place it between two sheets of cling film (each bigger than your tart tin). Using a rolling pin, roll out the pastry to about 3 mm (⅛in) thick. Make sure to keep it in a round shape and large enough to line the base and sides of the tin.
6. Removing just the top layer of cling film, place the pastry upside down (cling-film side facing up) in the tart tin (there’s no need to flour or grease the tin). Press the pastry into the edges of the tin, with the cling film still attached to the dough, and using your thumb ‘cut’ the pastry along the edge of the tin for a neat finish. If there are any holes or gaps in the pastry, simply patch them up with some of your spare pieces of dough.
7. Remove the cling film and chill the pastry in the fridge for 15 minutes or in the freezer for 5 minutes.
8. Remove the pastry from the fridge or freezer and line with greaseproof paper or baking parchment, leaving plenty of paper to come up over the sides. Fill the lined tart case with baking beans or dried pulses (you can use these over and over again), and bake ‘blind’ for 20–25 minutes or until the pastry feels just dry to the touch on the base.
9. Remove the paper and beans, brush with a little of the remaining beaten egg and return to the oven for 3 minutes. Again, if there are any little holes or cracks in the pastry, patch them up with any leftover raw pastry so that the filling doesn’t leak out during cooking. Once the pastry has been baked blind, take it out of the oven and set it aside in the tin.
10. Next, make the frangipane filling. Cream the butter, gradually beat in the sugar and continue beating until the mixture is light and soft. Gradually add the eggs, beating well. Stir in the ground almonds until just mixed, then pour the frangipane into the pastry case, spreading it evenly. Arrange the dates on top of the frangipane in concentric circles. Bake for 30–35 minutes until golden and just set in the centre.
11. Meanwhile, to make the apricot glaze, pour the jam and lemon juice into a saucepan and put on a medium heat. Stir together well, then remove from the heat and push the mixture through a sieve. The glaze can be stored in an airtight jar and reheated to melt it before using.
12. When the tart is cooked, remove it from the oven and brush generously with the apricot glaze while warm.