Nectarine Almond Tart

Our homemade almond paste asked us to pair it with whatever fruit was in season and on sale at the grocery store.  It requested to take the form of a tart.  I said OK, I guess I can do that for you.

I’m really happy I did. The crust is a typical flaky pastry crust. The filling is our fresh homemade almond paste, combined with egg yolks, butter, and vanilla.  It starts off creamy and silky and is transformed to a dense moist almond-cake-custard upon baking. The juicy nectarines are thinly sliced and arranged prettily on top. Recipe inspiration courtesy of epicurious.com

Nectarine Almond Tart

Crust

• 2 egg yolks
• 2 tablespoons vodka or kirsch
• 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 9 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

Filling

• 1/2 cup packed almond paste (about 5 ounces)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 Nectarines

Preheat oven to 375.

For crust:

Whisk egg yolks and vodka in small bowl to blend. Blend flour, sugar, and salt in processor. Add chilled butter and process until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add egg yolk mixture and process until moist clumps form. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Wrap in plastic and chill 1 hour. Roll dough into a rough circle shape, then press evenly onto bottom and up sides of 11-inch-diameter tart pan with removable bottom; chill while preparing filling. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Keep chilled.)
 

For filling:

Blend almond paste and sugar in processor until almond paste is finely ground. Add 1/4 cup flour and 3 tablespoons room-temperature butter and process until thick paste forms. Add eggs and vanilla extract and process until smooth. Spread filling in crust; cover and chill while preparing nectarines.
Cut each nectarine in half and remove the pit from each half.  Slice each nectarine half into thin 1/2 moon slices. Arrange nectarine slices in concentric circles, starting at outer edge of tart.  A little overlapping is fine.
Melt remaining 1 tablespoon butter. Brush over nectarines.
Bake tart until fruit is tender and crust is brown, about 50 minutes. Cool 30 minutes. Remove from pan and serve warm or at room temperature. (Tart can be prepared up to 8 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.)  Serve with cool whipped cream.