I bought a large quantity of the plumpest, nicest-looking apricots in Costco the other day and realizing I couldn’t eat them fast enough before they became overripe, I decided to make an open tart after finding some puff pastry lurking in the back of my freezer.

It was a toss-up between apricots or the very ripe pears I bought at the same time; the apricots won because the pears were a bit too ripe and the apricots were so sunshiny-looking and anyway, apricots create an incredibly luscious and slightly tangy tart, which I love.

The addition of flaked almonds and a sprinkle of Amaretto didn’t hurt either – the whole thing only took a few minutes to prep so you can whip this up and bake it in 35 mins flat, provided that you too have some ready-made puff pastry lurking somewhere in your freezer.

On a completely different topic but every bit as sweet, here’s a pic of our tiny visitors from last summer.

As for the tart; serve it warm or at room temp with a good dollop of lightly sweetened whipped cream, creme fraiche or vanilla ice cream.

There are notes at the end re alternative fillings.

EASY APRICOT TART with ALMONDS

(Serves 4-6)

Ingredients:

One sheet, or 8 oz / 230g of frozen puff pastry, defrosted at room temp for 40 minutes

6 big, fat, almost-ripe apricots (or more if they’re small), rinsed and patted dry

¼ cup of flaked almonds

1 tablespoon of Amaretto liqueur

3 tablespoons of fine white sugar

Egg white, lightly beaten

Action:

very Easy Fig Tart

Pre-heat oven to 400F / 204C

Line a baking sheet with baking parchment.

Roll out the puff pastry on a lightly floured board until you have a rectangle approx 10 in x 12 in (or 25cm x 30cm).

Carefully transfer the pastry to the baking sheet and brush around the edges with a little egg white and then fold them in 1 inch / 2.5cm to raise the edge. This will puff up and prevent the filling from leaking.

Slice the apricots into 6 wedges each and pack them into the center of the pastry with the skin down and the cut edges uppermost.

Brush the pastry edges once more with beaten egg white.

Scatter the flaked almonds over the apricots then sprinkle over the Amaretto.

Sprinkle the sugar over everything, including the pastry edges.

Bake in the center of the pre-heated oven for 30 minutes or until the pastry is puffed and golden and the fruit has started to brown at the edges.

Cool on a rack until its just warm or room temp – best eaten right away.

Notes:

This would work really well with other stone fruits such as peaches, nectarines or plums and I plan to try it with fresh figs, honey and thyme once purple figs are available up here in the mountains, so stay tuned for a fabulous fresh fig version over the coming weeks!