Apricot Almond Cream Cheese Crostata Recipes

ALMOND, APRICOT, AND CREAM CHEESE CROSTATA

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400°F. Blend almond paste and 3 tablespoons sugar in processor until finely chopped. Add cream cheese, egg yolk, and vanilla and blend until filling is smooth. Unroll crust on heavy rimmed baking sheet. Spread filling over crust, leaving 1 1/2-inch plain border. Arrange apricot quarters, rounded side down, in spoke pattern in 2 concentric circles atop filling. Fold dough border up over edge of filling. Brush exposed apricots with warm jam. Sprinkle with remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar.
• Bake crostata until crust is golden brown and apricots are tender and slightly browned, about 43 minutes. Sprinkle with crushed amaretti. Cool 30 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

APRICOT, ALMOND & CREAM CHEESE CROSTATA

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Blend almond paste and 3T sugar in food processor until finely chopped.
• Add cream cheese, egg yolk, and vanilla.
• Blend until smooth.
• Unroll pie crust on heavy rimmed baking sheet.
• Spread filling over crust, leaving 1 1/2 inch plain border.
• Arrange apricot quarters, rounded side down, in a spoke pattern in 2 concentric circles atop filling.
• Fold dough border up over the edge of filling.
• Brush exposed apricots with warm jam.
• Sprinkle with remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar.
• Bake crostata until crust is golden brown and apricots are tender and slightly browned about 43 minutes.
• Sprinkle with crushed Amaretti cookies.
• Cool 30 minutes.
• Serve warm or at room temperature.

APRICOT ALMOND RUGALACH

Steps:

• To Make Pastry: Place the flour in a bowl. Cut the butter into the flour and blend until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Cut the cream cheese into small cubes and rub into the flour-butter mixture. Knead until the dough forms a ball. Cut dough in half, wrap each half in plastic wrap and refrigerate.
• To Make Filling: Stir the apricot jam until it is spreadable. In a bowl combine the sugar with the chopped nuts and grated lemon peel.
• To Assemble: On a lightly floured surface roll out each half of dough. The larger and thinner the circle the crisper the cookies will be. Each circle should be at least 9 inches in diameter. Spread each circle with jam and sprinkle with the almond mixture.
• Cut each circle into twelve wedges. Roll each wedge up tightly from the outside edges. Turn edges slightly to form a crescent. Place crescents on a parchment lined baking sheet about 1 inch apart. Repeat until all cookies are shaped.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Beat egg and brush cookies with beaten egg. Sprinkle with nuts. Bake cookies for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Let cookies cool on wire wracks then dust with sifted confectioners' sugar.

APRICOT CROSTATA

Steps:

• Beat together butter and sugar with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
• Beat in egg and vanilla.
• Reduce speed to low and mix in flour, salt, and lemon zest until mixture just forms a dough.
• Shape dough into 2 balls, 1 slightly larger than the other.
• Flatten each ball into a 5-inch disk, then wrap each in wax paper and chill 30 minutes.
• Stir together preserves, lemon juice, and extract in a small bowl.
• Roll out thicker piece of dough (keep remaining piece chilled) between 2 sheets of wax paper into an 11-inch round.
• Remove top sheet of paper and invert dough into a 9- by 1-inch fluted round tart pan with a removable bottom.
• Peel off paper and fit dough into pan, trimming side to 1/4 inch below top of rim.
• Chill shell.
• Roll out remaining dough in same manner and remove top sheet of paper, then cut dough into 10 (1-inch-wide) strips.
• Slide strips on wax paper onto a baking sheet and chill until firm, about 10 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 375°F
• Spread apricot filling in tart shell and arrange 5 strips across filling (about 1 inch apart), trimming excess dough at ends of strips.
• Arrange remaining 5 strips on top (about 1 inch apart) to form a lattice (do not weave), trimming ends.
• Press ends onto edge of tart shell and bake crostata in middle of oven until golden, 40 to 50 minutes.
• Cool completely in pan on a rack.

APRICOT CROSTATA

Steps:

• Mix together apricots, white sugar, and rum in a bowl. Cover and let macerate in the refrigerator for 8 hours, or overnight.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with a 12-inch square of parchment paper. Spray the parchment paper with cooking spray.
• Place flour, cold butter, dark brown sugar, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and ginger into a food processor. Blend in short bursts until butter is in pea-sized lumps.
• Whisk together buttermilk and egg in a bowl; pour into butter-flour mixture and continue to blend until it forms a soft dough. Form dough into a smooth ball, using additional flour as needed.
• Pat dough ball into a thick circle onto the prepared baking sheet.
• Drain apricots, reserving juice in a bowl. Spread apricots evenly on top of dough circle; draw edges of dough up over fruit.
• Bake in the preheated oven until crostata is baked through, golden on top, and fruit is soft, about 45 minutes.
• While crostata is baking, pour reserved apricot juice and orange juice into a saucepan. Bring mixture to a simmer; cook syrup until it has reduced by 2/3.
• Remove crostata from the oven. Brush syrup on top. Let cool slightly. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve.

APRICOT AND CHERRY CROSTATA

Steps:

• Make crust
• Blend flour, sugar and salt in processor. Add butter; cut in using on/off turns until mixture resembles coarse meal. Blend in water by tablespoonfuls until moist clumps form. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Wrap in plastic; chill 30 minutes. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Keep chilled.)
• Roll out dough between 2 sheets of plastic to 11-inch round. Remove top sheet of plastic from dough and invert dough onto 9-inch-diameter tart pan with removable bottom. Remove second sheet of plastic. Press dough onto bottom and up sides of pan. Fold excess dough in, forming double-thick sides. Pierce dough all over with fork. Freeze 20 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 375°F. Bake crust until set but still pale, piercing with fork if crust bubbles, about 25 minutes. Cool on rack. Maintain oven temperature.
• Make filling
• Blanch apricots in pot of boiling water 1 minute. Transfer to bowl of ice water to cool. Drain. Peel, halve and pit apricots. Cut each apricot half into 3 wedges. Arrange, rounded side down, in crust. Arrange cherries over and around apricots. Sprinkle sugar over.
• Bake tart until apricots are tender, about 50 minutes. Transfer to rack. Stir apricot preserves in heavy small saucepan over low heat until melted. Strain. Brush strained preserves over fruit in tart. Remove pan sides from tart. Place tart on platter. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature. (Can be made 4 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.)