Apricot tarts

G had no school today. So G and I went for grocery together. He loves doing grocery with me or sometimes with his dad over the weekend. He likes to explore about food and fresh ingredients. He saw fresh apricots on the shelf.

“ What fruit is this, Mom?” G asked me.

“It’s apricot. When you were young I liked to put dried apricot in your snacks box to school.” I replied.

“Oh I see. Can you buy them, please? I want to try fresh apricot.” He asked.

“Sure! Those stone fruits are nice when there’re cooked. I’ll let you try fresh apricot and bake some apricot tarts later” I replied.

When we arrived home, he tried it right away and he said “Yummy,mom!”.

I told him. “it will be nicer if we bake or cook them because the sugar in a fruit gets caramelized and they become sweeter and more fragrant.” After finished baking we had two tarts each.

Sweet pastry

150 g all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

113 g cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

25 ml egg, beat

½ tsp vanilla extract

Put the flour, salt, and sugar into a large bowl. And pinch with the fingers to create a crumbly texture. Make a well in the middle, and pour in egg and vanilla extract. Quickly work in the flour with your fingers to create the dough. Do not over-mix, as that toughens the dough. Wrap the pastry dough in the plastic wrap, and chill at least 40 minutes or overnight before rolling out.

Roll the pastry between two sheets of parchment. Fill the 9-inch tart mould or 6x4-inch moulds with the pastry and cut the excess dough. It might tear a little but just press it back together. Refrigerate the dough for about 30 minutes.

Apricot tarts

400 g fresh apricots, seeded and slice into small wedges

30 g muscovado sugar, for sprinkle

30 g unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

30 g pistachio, roughly chopped for sprinkle (optional)

Honey (optional)

Preheat the oven temperature at 200 degrees C. Arrange slices of apricot into the pastry. Sprinkle muscovado and a few cubes of cold butter on top. Bake it for about 40 minutes. Sprinkle some chopped pistachio or a few drops of honey on top before serving.