This week’s Cook the Book Fridays recipe from My Paris Kitchen is a wonderful way to celebrate the summer bounty of apricots here in South West France.
After nine days walking the Camino (read my first post about my experience here), I was itching to get back into the soothing routines of the kitchen and this was the perfect recipe. Pastry, fruit, crumble. Such a simple combination but one that really works.
I put this together in a couple of stages – first the pastry – it’s a press-in crust in a springform pan (mine was 25cm in diameter – my crust only came up about 3cm around the sides – nothing like the image of a tall pastry case) that you freeze for 30 minutes, then blind bake. I didn’t have any beans to weight the pastry down but it baked up beautifully anyway. In fact it smelled so good that it woke up one of my houseguests who was siesta-ing on a different floor in the house 😉
The crumble came together in a few minutes (loved the addition of almonds) and sat in the fridge until I was ready to assemble. The apricot filling looks like a LOT of apricots – so much so that you think they won’t all fit but they just barely did (they cook down a little in the oven) and the crumble generously covers the top of the fruit. This went down a treat the day it was made and as leftovers for breakfast the following two days. A keeper – all components (crumble and crust).
David’s recipe for apricot crumble tart can be found here, or on p 309 of My Paris Kitchen.
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Love the pictures of the apricots in whole pieces and in halves. They are so perfect and sunny. I thought that there were too many apricots too. But they all fitted in the tart. The more the merrier, especially for breakfast. Have a good time in France!
Definitely the high fruit to pastry ratio means it was an excellent breakfast!
A keeper for sure. Especially a tart crust which doesn’t require days of pre-planning!
Hurray for that, right? It’s a good one to have in your back pocket, for sure!
Your tart is beautiful Mardi, with gorgeous photos! This was definitely a keeper…and was enjoyed by all in my house.
Totally a keeper!
I don’t think I have ever seen such pretty apricots. Maybe because they are French. Your tart
is beautiful and it’s nice that Katie wanted to use your photo.
Thanks so much – those apricot photos are from a few years ago but I couldn’t resist using them again (and yes, they are French)!
Perfect to eat this very French tart in France! Bon weekend!
Right, it was a very French Friday!
Gorgeous tart! I wish I’d thought to make this at the end of June, when apricots were available here. Peaches will have to do!
I think peaches would be wonderful in this!
I agree – all the components of this tart are keepers. I’ll be happy to try this recipe with other stone fruits, as well.
Me too – it’s the perfect summer dessert!
Love your photo of the tart, Mardi, and enjoyed seeing your photos of the Camino as well! This tart is so good, eh? And, yes, definitely don’t make the ice cream unless you’ve got people to serve it to since you don’t like the almond extract flavor. 😉
Good to know!
I do agree that the baking aroma was tantalizing! Lovely photos!
Thanks 🙂
Yours looks gorgeous and I am sure it is made all the better by using French apricots. And everything tastes better in Europe anyway, right?
Your crumble looks so good and the apricots look perfect! Such lovely colors! It really is a great recipe, I just wish I could have found good apricots for the filling, a little too tart for my tastes. But I did love the ice cream and will be having a hefty scoop on top for tonight’s dessert! Next time, peaches and blueberries! Really enjoyed your post on the Camino as well. Brought back a lot of memories! (Perhaps I am due for a third! 🙂 )
You’re *almost* convincing me that I need to make that ice cream…
Your crumble looks delicious and I am quite sure tasted even better. Colorado lost its apricot crop to an early freeze this Spring so I envy you the gorgeous les abricots. Until reading your entire wonderful post about the Camino, I forgot that was one of the things I had planned to do and haven’t. Anytime you’re walking/hiking more than 100 miles, no matter how many days or where you are going, it’s an effort and an accomplishment. Did you maintain silence on purpose or is that expected? I didn’t understand why you were silent for 4 to 7 hours a day. Not sure I could adjust to that. When I am patrolling a wilderness trail with another ranger and there are not many tourists on the trails, we always chat. One reason is because we want the bears (and, now, mountain lions) to know we’re in the area and the other is just because we do. Nothing heavy. In fact we talk about “food” and “haircuts”. So happy you’re having a good summer.
Actually I was silent because there were hardly any other people walking and Yvonne tended to walk a fair bit ahead. Hence, the silence. I liked being alone with my thoughts.
Nice overhead shot Mardi. I’m glad I was not the only one to have tart for breakfast the next day…have you ever made anything with apricot kernels?
Never made anything with apricot kernels and now I’m not so sure I am keen since it sounds like it tastes like almond extract which I am not a fan of…
Lovely looking tart. I enjoyed your post about walking the Camino, very impressive.
Thanks – this tart was the perfect post-Camino re-entry to the kitchen!
I did mine in stages also. I had a failure with the crust which bothered me as I used my precious duck eggs and it ended up in the trash!! SO I packed up the crumble and filling and went off with friends for the week. I made it while away and everyone enjoyed it!! Doing it in stages made it seem so easy. Your crust looks great!
Oh no that’s too bad re the crust and your duck eggs 🙁 Glad you figured this one out and enjoyed with friends!