Prune and Almond Tart with Armangnac

Well, I promised a prune recipe, and here it is.

I found lots of recipes using Armagnac with prunes. Armagnac-soaked prunes are a classic of southwest France, where, not-so-coincidentally, both Armagnac and the highly touted Agen prunes are produced.I had no Armagnac, so I used good French Brandy that we had in the closet.

This recipe is modified from Rick Stein at the BBC food website. Because it it from the UK, quantities are in weights, not volume (sorry).

The original recipe called for a shortcrust pastry that was made without sugar. I used a slightly different pie crust recipe fom the Joy of Baking website that uses both sugar and an egg. I didn’t roll it out, just pressed it into the pan and it worked out just fine. The crust started to brown so I covered the edges with foil for the last 10 minutes, but I should have put the foil on about 5 minutes earlier, as should you. I really need to get one of those crust protectors.

This tart is not too sweet, we like it that way. But if you want something a little sweeter, you could add some sugar to the armagnac, cook it over the stove a bit to melt the sugar, and then add the prunes.

Next time I make this, I will prick the prunes with a toothpick so they can absorb more of the brandy. Although if I did that I supect that I might need to add a little more of the liquer (hic!).

If you want more prune recipes, David Lebovitz had a one time blogging event last October that he called Prune Blogging Thursday, and got some great recipe submissions. Of these, I found a recipe for Armagnac and tea soaked prunes at TooManyChefs the most intruiging…

Prune and Almond Tart with Armangnac

10½oz pitted prunes
4 tbsp Armagnac (or other good French brandy)
1 recipe sweet shortcrust pastry, and butter for greasing
35g/1oz ground almonds
1 large egg, lightly beaten
55g/2oz sugar
1 7¼fl oz/200ml tub crème fraîche
Confectioner’s sugar, for dusting
Extra crème fraîche (or vanilla ice cream) to serve alongside

Put the prunes into a small bowl, pour over the Armagnac and leave for one hour, turning them over every now and then to help them soak up the alcohol.

Preheat the oven to 400F

Butter the tart pan. Make the pastry and press into the pan. Line the pastry with a foil or parchment paper add a layer of dried beans or pie weights and bake for 15 minutes. Remove the paper and beans and return to the oven for 4-5 minutes. Remove, brush the inside of the pie crust with a little of the beaten egg and return to the oven once more for two minutes. Set aside and lower the oven temperature to 375F.

Drain the prunes over a bowl to reserve the Armagnac. Add the ground almonds, egg, sugar and crème fraîche to the Armagnac, and beat together until smooth.

Scatter the prunes over the base of the pastry case, pour over the almond mixture and bake for 45 minutes until golden brown and a skewer pushed into the centre of the tart comes away clean. (Cover tart pie crust edges with foil for the last 15 minutes of baking to prevent over-browning.)

Carefully remove the tart from the tin and leave to cool slightly on a wire rack. Dust with a little Confectioner’s sugar and serve warm or at room temperature, cut into wedges, with some more crème fraîche or some vanilla ice cream. We, unfortunately, had no ice cream, since I was unable to talk Mr. TBTM into going to the store for it. That’s all right, we’ll get some for tomorrow’s leftovers…

Sweet Pastry Crust
1 1/2 cups (210 grams) all purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter
1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated white sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten

In a separate bowl, sift or whisk together the flour and salt. Set aside. Place the butter in your mixer and beat until softened. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Gradually add the beaten egg, beating just until incorporated. Don’t over mix or the butter will separate and lighten in color. Add flour mixture all at once and mix just until it forms a ball. Don’t overwork or pastry will be hard when baked.

Category: Food