These apricot & almond tarts cream cheese tarts are another in my puff pastry series, which came about mostly because I bought 7 packages of puff pastry for a party and didn't use any of them.
So over the past few weeks I've been thinking of different ways to use puff pastry. I've also made ham and cheese turnovers, Gruyère Tarts with Thyme, Mushrooms & Cherry Tomatoes, Quick & Easy Petit Pain au Chocolat with Almonds, and a cheat version of sfogliatelle.
So a few weeks ago when we were invited to a birthday party for one of Bogdan's coworkers (who also happens to be into food) I decided to put that extra puff pastry (and all my creative faculties) to good use. Plus stone fruit season had just started and apricots were abundant. It was a perfect combination.
These tarts come together really easily and look quite elegant. The most time consuming part is making the frames for the filling. It doesn't take a lot of skill, just a bit of patience. You simply use the edge of a knife to gently push up and fold over the edges of the pastry. It forms the pastry rectangles into beautiful little frames, perfect for showing off the lovely filling and apricots inside.
The filling is also quite simple to make. Just cream cheese, sugar, eggs, orange marmalade, cinnamon, and fresh ginger. It complements the apricot very nicely but would also work with peaches, nectarines, or even plums. Although I made this for a summer gathering, the flavours would work very well for a fall or winter celebration as well - maybe with pears instead of stone fruit.
The only suggestion I would make is that you thoroughly taste your apricots before baking with them. Mine were a little on the tart side (since it was just the beginning of stone fruit season I guess) and so my tart came out more tart than I imagined it would.
It was still good and I generally err on the side of less sugar than more when baking so I was still happy with the outcome.
This is a lovely and simple recipe that makes for a great party dessert. It doesn't take ay special skill or equipment. I highly recommend it for your next summer (or fall) gathering.
Recipe
Apricot & Almond Cream Cheese Tarts
Ingredients
- 2 packages puff pastry
- 10 ripe apricots
- 250 grams Philadelphia cream cheese or substitute mascarpone
- ¼ to ½ cup sliced almonds
- 2-3 tablespoon powdered sugar plus more for dusting / if apricots are underripe
- 2 eggs
- 2 tablespoon orange marmalade
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
- 1 pinch salt
Instructions
- Make the fillingIn a mixing bowl or stand mixer whip together the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Whisk together the two eggs in another smaller bowl, and add them to the cream cheese and sugar, reserving about 2.5 tablespoon for the egg wash. Then add the orange marmalade, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger and pinch of salt to the cream cheese and mix well.
- Cut the apricotsCut the apricots into roughly equal thin slices.
- Cut the pastryCut the puff pastry sheets into equal sized rectangles. Depending on the size of the sheet, you will get anywhere from 8-12 rectangles.
- ShapeApply egg wash to the outer edges of each rectangle. Use the edge of a butter knife or your fingers to gently push up and fold over the edges of each rectangle so that you form them into little frames.
- FillFill each frame with approximately 2 - 2.5 tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture and carefully lay 3-4 slices of the apricot slices on each frame. Apply more egg wash to the frame edge, and top with the sliced almond.
- BakeBake at 200 C / 375 F for approximately 30-35 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown and the almonds are toasted.
- Dust with more powdered sugar and serve.
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