Smart plum tart

A recipe from cooking-ez.com

For 1 tart, you will need:

• 1 800 g plums
• 2 20 g butter
• 3 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 4 150 g puff or flaky pastry (pâte feuilletée)
• 5 10 g beaten egg (optional)
• 6 50 g ground hazelnuts
• 7 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 8 20 g apricot glaze (optional)
• Total weight: 1,065 grams

Times:

Preparation	Cooking	Start to finish
45 min.	35 min.	1 hour 20 min.

Step by step recipe

1	Rinse and dry 800 g plums.
2	Cut the plums in half and remove the stones.
3	Preheat the oven to 390°F (200°C). Put 20 g butter in a small ramekin and put in the oven while it is warming up. This is a good tip for using the oven heat if you are going to need melted butter later .
4	Lay a sheet of cooking parchment on a baking sheet and scatter 1 tablespoon brown sugar over.
5	Lay 150 g puff or flaky pastry (pâte feuilletée) on top, rolled out into a circle as evenly as possible.
6	This is not essential, but you can glaze the edge of the pastry (1/2 inch or 1 cm) using a brush.
7	Spread 50 g ground hazelnuts over the puff pastry, leaving the edge (about 1/2 inch or 1 cm) clear.
8	Arrange the plums in rings, standing them on edge. A tip to get started: Put something with a bit of weight to it (a plastic block here) and lean the first plum against it, taking it away to complete the ring.
9	Complete the filling. As with any tart, it needs plenty of fruit.
10	Take the melted butter out of the oven. Remember to be careful as the dish will be hot. Brush the tops of the fruit generously with butter.
11	Sprinkle brown sugar generously over.
12	Bake for 25 minutes.
13	After this time, take the tart out of the oven. Lift it on the cooking parchment and slide it onto oven-proof wire rack. Put the tart back in the oven for a further 10 to 15 minutes (watch for browning). This is the secret of a really crisp tart.
14	Leave to cool then, if possible, glaze with apricot jelly. Serve warm or cold.

Remarks

If don't have ground hazelnuts, use ground almonds instead.
You can vary this idea with different fruits, according to the season: mirabelles or apricots for instance.
If using commercial ready-rolled pastry, this will take a good 2 pounds (1kg) of plums and 3 oz (80 g of ground hazelnuts.

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