Apricot and Almond Flan

Bakerzin's lovely fruit flans are all almond cream based, which reminds me of a galette baked by my French colleague last Easter. She also used almond cream or frangipane as the filling, which tastes wonderful!  I learned that frangipane is one of France's many traditional foods, which is normally made of butter, sugar, eggs, and ground almonds. My initial intention was to make a galette. Bakerzin's attractive dessert menu makes me finally decide to bake this Apricot and Almond Flan.

What kind of tart shell shall I use?  For sure, I don't like the store-bought crusts, which use shortening (I never used shortening in my baking).  Plenty of trans fats and preservatives scare me off.   I chose a sweet shortcrust base recipe, which uses egg yolk in the pastry. I prefer a flaky tart crust than a crispy one.  The shortcrust turned out really good, it is definitely a keeper!

Once the flan pastry is ready, the rest is pretty easy. Beat butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy, gradually beat in the eggs, fold in the ground almonds. Spread frangipane in the tart shell, topped with canned apricot halves. Sprinkle with almond slices and baked until golden in color.  There you go, the beautiful and delicious apricot flan. Everything seems so perfect!

APRICOT AND ALMOND FLAN Ingredients (makes one 9" flan) Flan Pastry 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, sifted 1 stick unsalted butter (110g), chilled, cut into  1/2-inch cubes 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons sugar 2 tablespoons ice-cold water 1 egg yolk 1 tablespoon lemon juice

For the filling (frangipane):

• 100g (1 cup) almond meal
• 100g caster sugar
• 100g unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons plain flour
• 2 eggs
• zest of 1 orange
• 1 can of apricot halves
• 50g flaked almonds

Directions

1. To make the pastry, place the flour, sugar,salt and butter  in a food processor and process until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolk, cold water and lemon juice, mix until the just combined. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
2. Roll pastry out on a lightly floured workbench and use to line a 23cm (9") loose-bottomed tart pan. 
3. Trim the edges and prick the base with a fork. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Line the pastry case with non-stick baking paper and fill with baking weights. Preheat oven at 180C, 160C fan, bake for 15 minutes, remove the paper and weights and bake for a further 10 minutes or until the pastry is light golden. Remove from the oven and set aside.
4. Beat sugar, butter until fluffy. Gradually beat in eggs, and almond meal and flour. Process until creamy. Refrigerate almond mixture (it is called a frangipane) until you are ready to use.
5. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
6. Place frangipane in the tart shell. Cover with apricots, cut-side down. Sprinkle top of tart with flaked almonds, bake for 30 to 35 minutes, then set aside to cool.