Apricot Almond Gratins Recipes

ALMOND APRICOT TART

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
• To make the frangipane, place the almonds and the sugar in a food processor and grind until sandy. Add the butter and continue mixing then add the egg, vanilla, and the flour and mix until smooth.
• To make the tart, on a floured work surface pass your rolling pin over the pastry just to flatten any ridges.
• Place it on a parchment paper lined sheet pan and cut out a 9-inch disk. Spread the almond frangipane in the center of the tart leaving a 1-inch border. Firmly place the apricot halves into the frangipane spacing them evenly around the tart. Dot the spaces between the apricots with the whole almonds.
• Bake until golden brown on the top and puffy, about 30 to 40 minutes. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve.

APRICOT ALMOND GALETTE

Steps:

• Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Roll out pie crust onto a baking sheet.
• Toss the quartered apricots with the white sugar in a bowl. Mix almond meal, confectioners' sugar, and egg together in another bowl to create a paste. Spread almond paste on the center of the pie crust, leaving 1/2 inch of bare crust all around the edge. Arrange the sugared apricots over the almond paste. Fold the 1/2-inch bare edge of the crust inward over the almond paste and apricots, leaving the center of the tart uncovered. Crimp the edge down with a fork as you go around the tart.
• Bake in the preheated oven until the crust is golden brown, about 40 minutes. Brush the melted apricot jam over the hot galette. Slice and serve.

FRUIT-AND-ALMOND GRATINS

Steps:

• Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Butter gratin dishes.
• Whisk together eggs, cream, confectioners sugar, almond flour, vanilla, and salt in a bowl until combined well. Quarter pears lengthwise, then peel, core, and cut into 1/2-inch-wide wedges. Toss pears with lemon juice in a bowl, then divide among gratin dishes. Divide raspberries and grapes among gratin dishes, then pour custard mixture over fruit. Sprinkle with almonds and dot with butter. Transfer gratin dishes to a shallow baking pan.
• Bake until pears are tender, about 30 minutes. Preheat broiler and broil gratins 4 to 5 inches from heat until almonds are golden, 1 to 2 minutes. Cool on a rack to warm or room temperature before serving.

APRICOT GRATIN WITH ALMONDS AND KIRSCH

Steps:

• The day before, combine the sugar, honey, vanilla bean and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
• Place the whole apricots in a large saucepan. Pour the boiling syrup over them and bring back to a boil over medium-high heat. Remove from the heat; the apricots should be completely submerged in the syrup. If not, they will discolor. If necessary, invert a saucer over the top of the fruit to keep it submerged. Cover the saucepan and let stand for 24 hours. During this overnight marinating, the pits will impart an almond flavor to the apricots and their syrup.
• Drain the fruit, reserving the syrup and being careful not to crush the apricots. Halve the apricots. Remove and discard the pits. Place four or five apricot halves in the bottom of six gratin dishes that are four-inches in diameter, arranging the fruit just to cover the bottom of the dishes.
• Place the remaining apricots in a food processor or food mill with a little of the syrup and process to a thick puree. Set aside.
• To make the topping, combine one-half cup of the powdered sugar, the ground almonds, butter, egg yolks and whole egg in a mixing bowl and whisk until thoroughly blended.
• Divide the batter among the six gratin dishes, spreading it evenly over the top of the apricots. (If the batter is too thick, heat it slightly to soften.) Sprinkle the top of the batter with slivered almonds. Sprinkle the remaining one-fourth cup of powdered sugar over the top of the gratin dishes with a sugar sifter or fine sieve.
• Forty-five minutes before serving, preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Twenty minutes later, place the gratins in the oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until lightly browned on top.
• Just before serving, place the apricot puree in a small saucepan and warm over low heat. Add the apricot brandy or kirsch and pour the sauce into a warm sauce boat.
• Serve the gratins on dessert plates lined with paper doilies or folded linen napkins. Pass the apricot topping separately.

APRICOT-ALMOND GRATINS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400°F. Butter gratin dishes and put in a shallow baking pan.
• Soak apricots in brandy 10 minutes, then drain, reserving brandy.
• Reserve 2 tablespoons almonds. Pulse remaining almonds, granulated sugar, flour, and salt in a food processor until almonds are finely chopped. Add eggs and cream and pulse until smooth. Stir reserved brandy into almond cream.
• Pour almond cream into gratin dishes and sprinkle with apricots and reserved almonds.
• Bake gratins in middle of oven until puffed and golden brown, 18 to 20 minutes. Dust with confectioners sugar.

BAKED APRICOTS WITH ALMOND TOPPING

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter a 9-inch square baking dish. Process almonds and brown sugar in a food processor until almonds are finely chopped. Add butter; process until just combined.
• Place apricot halves, cut sides up, in buttered baking dish. Cover top of each apricot half with almond mixture. Bake until apricots are soft and almond mixture is deep golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer 3 apricot halves to each serving plate. Serve warm.

APRICOT ALMOND BARS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. Cream butter, brown sugar and salt until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla. Gradually beat in flour. Press onto bottom of a greased 15x10x1-in. baking pan. Spread with preserves., In another bowl, beat almond paste and sugar on low speed until blended. Beat in vanilla and eggs, one at a time. Pour over preserves., Bake 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in almond layer comes out clean. Cool slightly on a wire rack., Meanwhile, place chocolate in a large bowl. In a small saucepan, bring cream just to a boil; pour over chocolate. Stir with a whisk until smooth. Add confectioners' sugar, butter and vanilla; beat until smooth., Spread over warm bars. Cool completely before cutting.

APRICOT ALMOND LOAF

Steps:

• Place ingredients (except the almonds) in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select cycle; press Start.
• If your machine has a Fruit setting, add the almonds at the signal, or about 5 minutes before the kneading cycle has finished.

APRICOT-ALMOND TARTLETS

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine flour and confectioners' sugar; cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add egg yolk and water; stir until dough forms a ball. Roll into twenty-four 1-in. balls. Press onto the bottoms and up the sides of greased miniature muffin cups., In a small bowl, beat almond paste and butter until blended; beat in egg white and almond extract. Spoon into tart shells, about 2 teaspoons in each., Bake at 350° until golden brown, 20-25 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks. Top with apricot preserves.