Cupboard Love - Apricot Frangipane Tart

.... but first this.

How anally retentive does a person have to be to have spent an afternoon and a whole morning arranging their cupboards AND ENJOYED IT?

Answers on a postcard (rectangular, at least 31⁄2 inches (88.9 mm) high × 5 inches (127 mm) long × 0.007 inches (0.178 mm) thick and no more than 41⁄4 inches (108 mm) high × 6 inches (152.4 mm) long × 0.016 inches (0.406 mm) thick).*

With my knicker drawer, my baking cupboard, my bread making/flour shelf, the bathroom cabinet and my chest of drawers now alphabetised and cross indexed I could finally get on with some baking.

Remember those apricots I bought yesterday, well here is the first inroad into them.

Apricot Frangipane Tart


- and instantly I digress if only because I just had a fit of the giggles - the first line of the recipe I followed says "This elegant tart is well worth the effort"  - now drag your minds out of the gutter and consider what made me snigger - yes that's right - the word 'elegant'.  Because one thing I am not is an elegant baker so perhaps I am shooting at the moon here but I'm going to give it a go anyway.

1. Pre-heat oven to 200°C.
2. Make a pastry case from 250g plain flour and 125g cold cubed butter and a pinch of salt.  Rub together to form breadcrumbs then add a tablespoon of very cold water and turn out onto a floured surface to knead.  
3. Roll out and line a greased baking tin then bake blind for about 15 minutes, take the beans out and put back in the oven for a couple of minutes to crisp up the base.
4. Turn the oven down to 180°C.
5. Cream together 100g of butter with 100g of sugar.
6. Whisk in 2 beaten eggs.
7. Stir in 100g of ground almonds.
8. Halve about 6 very ripe apricots, remove the stones and press them cut side down into the tart base.  If your apricots are not very ripe, cook them in some water for a couple of minutes just to soften them.
9. Spoon over the frangipane filling.
10. Bake in the oven for 20 - 30 minutes until golden and bubbly on top and cooked through.

To serve I made a very quick apricot jam, just a couple of apricots peeled and stoned, cut into small pieces, a tablespoon of sugar per apricot and cooked until the sugar had dissolved and the flesh of the apricots was all mushy - more of a compote than a jam I suppose.