Almond tart with caramel filling and shortbread crust

This is yet another egg less yummy tart particularly good in fall or spring as the base is like a rich shortbread. This won the Food52 contest for "your best late winter tart". Other than caramel making (which I am kind of getting comfortable with after many many failures in the past), I would say it is quite easy to put together.  If it is not already clear from my last three posts, I love baking tarts and trying out different flavors.

Serving: 20 small pieces

Ingredients:

Shortbread Crust:
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup confectioners sugar (preferably buy confectioner's sugar which are sold in plastic bags)
1 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoon (3/4 cup) unsalted butter (cold, chopped in small cubes)
zest of one orange (or two tangerines)
~ 3 tablespoon fresh orange juice

Filling:
1/2 cup superfine sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 orange blossom honey/blue agave
1 cup extra heavy whipping cream
3 cups sliced almonds (toasted, I used 8oz pack of sliced almonds from Trader Joe's)
 2 teaspoon fresh orange juice
1 teaspoon fresh orange juice + 1 tea spoon warm water for brushing the tart base

Procedure:

1) Line a 9.5 inch tart pan with a parchment paper
2) In a stand mixer, pulse flour, confectioner sugar, salt, butter, orange zest. Slowly add one tablespoon of orange juice at a time and pulse again. You will need about 3 tablespoon of juice to bring everything together in form of a ball. Pulse slightly and carefully until the mixture starts to form a ball.
3) With your hands, spread the dough in the tart pan and on the side of the pan working with you palm and fingers
4) Chill the pan for  1 to 4 hours ( 1 hour minimum)
5) Heat the oven to 375 degree F
6) In a heavy bottomed sauce pan, add superfine sugar, brown sugar, honey, two teaspoon orange juice and mix everything gently.  Turn the heat to medium low and allow the mixture to melt while stirring gently.  Cook for 5-7 minutes until the mixture darkens and caramelizes. Make sure you don't over cook (burnt taste) or under cook (not a liquid form and you can still see crystals)
7) Add heavy cream and increase heat to medium. Cook the mixture for another 8-10 minutes until it thickens. Most of the time mixture will be boiling so decrease the heat setting little bit if the mixture wants to come out of the pan :)
8) Mix one teaspoon orange juice and one teaspoon warm water, apply this mixture to the chilled tart base with a brush
9) Stir in sliced almonds into the caramel mixture and spread the mixture into the chilled tart pan.
10) Bake for 30 minutes and lower the temperature to 350 F and continue baking for another 15 minutes
11) Remove from oven and let is cool completely and serve with whipped cream or as is. Make sure to cut a very small slice as a small slice goes a long way for this tart.
12) If you end up storing some in refrigerator, warm the slice for 10 seconds in microwave or for 1-2 minutes in oven at 350 F.

Easy and Tasty Egg less Peach Tart

Tarts are one of my favorite desserts comprising of layers of deliciousness with crusty base, smooth filling and a distinctive topping. Endless combinations exist which closely change seasons in terms of filling and toppings.

Peaches are in full swing at farmer's market now. I wanted to try this recipe that I had bookmarked for a while waiting for peaches to show up in the farmer's market. Tasty peaches make all the difference in this tart.  It is an eggless tart  and is quite easy to put together because of the minimal ingredients it contains.

Ingredients:
(Adapted from the winning recipe for "your best peach pie or tart" in Food52 contest)

Crust:
3/4 cup spelt flour
3/4 cup all purpose flour (or u can use 1 and 1/2 cup all purpose flour and omit spelt flour)
1 tsp brown sugar
1/2 tea spoon salt
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup olive oil (extravirgin or light olive oil)
1/2 tea spoon almond extract
2 table spoon milk

Filling:
3 peaches
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 table spoon cold unsalted butter (pea size pieces)
1/4 tea spoon salt
2 table spoon all purpose flour

- Mix all the dry ingredients for crust  (flour, sugar, and salt) and all the liquid ingredients (oil, almond extract, milk) separately. Combine them together while mixing slightly and not overworking the dough
- Grease a 9.5 inch tart pan or 10 inch tart pan (line with a parchment paper if you don't want to sctrach the bottom of the pan)
- Transfer the crust mixture to tart pan and spread it evenly and firmly with your plam and fingers throughout the pan and along the sides (no rolling required for this crust)
-Preheat oven to 425 F
- Now cut 1/2 inch pieces of peach and arrange them in circle from outside to inside and in the middle while covering maximum area on the crust
- For the filling, mix sugar, butter, salt, all purpose flour with your fingers until crumbly and sprinkle over the peaches evenly
- Bake for 35 minutes to 40 minutes based on your oven settings
- Carefully remove from oven and at this point you will see a lot of bubbles in the pan and let it rest for half an hour.
- Slice and eat :) . This tastes great when slightly warm so in case you endup referigerating the tart (if you are fortunate enough to have any left) warm a slice in microwave for 15 seconds before eating it (you can serve it with whipped cream or eat without it)
- Enjoy this fresh and light treat.