Summertime: Apricot Tart

I’ve wanted to make an apricot tart for some time now. I can finally cross that item off my bucket list. I like my apricots firm with a little give, so that they are nice and tart yet still juicy and have a mild sweetness. I think apricots are the perfect summer fruit – they aren’t too big, so you can eat one, two, three, or four at a time (at least I can) and still not feel weighed down, and they are orange and golden like the sun.

I went to Fairway yesterday and bought a pound of apricots (I would say roughly a dozen small apricots). To make the pastry dough, I followed Ina Garten’s recipe, but I reduced the butter to 9 tablespoons rather than 12. I chilled the dough in the fridge for 1 hour, though I honestly recommend leaving it in the fridge for longer, as both my friend and I struggled to roll the dough out. (That’s what I get for having Type A personality). I have to say though, she did a very good job!

While my dough was chilling, I halved my dozen apricots, and sliced them thin. I put them in a large bowl and combined them with a splash of lemon juice and a couple of tablespoons of sugar (my apricots were not as ripe as I wanted them). I put the sliced apricots in the fridge for 45 minutes or so.

Once my friend rolled out the dough, we transferred it to a baking sheet. I added a thin layer of orange marmalade (apricot would be great here too!) and commenced putting the apricots on, making sure to leave a small border so we could fold the dough onto the apricots.

Rather than using egg wash, I combined some orange marmalade with water and spread it on the rims of my tart, so that the dough would turn golden and taste great of course! My oven is actually ridiculous and tends to burn everything, so I will not tell you how long it took for my tart to cook because honestly that will not help you if you try making it. (I had to transfer my tart to my toaster oven for the dough to finish baking but prevent it from burning around the edges). I think the tart should take as much time as Ina Garten’s apple tart in the link I provided above.

Anyways, I’m pretty happy with how the tart turned out. As two of my friends suggested: best served with some vanilla ice cream.