Two days ago, I was tasked with making a dessert for a family member's book club. I wanted to make a dessert that wasn't too heavy or decadent. I knew some of the guests have dietary concerns. I decided to avoid chocolate and decadent cream. I decided to take advantage of the fall harvest and make a fruit tart. I went to a local co-op market and found some beautiful New York yellow peaches. I didn't expect to find good peaches this late in the season so I was pleasantly surprised. I brought them home and ripened them in a brown paper bag for a few nights. It was so hard not to eat any before I baked! Thankfully I had a few left over.
After searching for recipes online and on pinterest, I chose a peach frangipane tart
recipe from
epicurious.com originating from a 1997 Gourmet issue. I already had almond flour in the freezer for the frangipane and plently of butter and flour. I used a
Julia Child's recipe to prepare the peach and make a glaze. Boiling the peaches and peeling them kept the beautiful rosy color on the outside of the peaches. They looked like they still had sunset-hued skins edging the gold flesh. I'll admit it was a pain in the neck - peeling them or leaving the skins on would have been much faster. But I couldn't resist trying a Julia Child's tip.
I decided to go with a glaze ove butter bits to ensure the peach slices didn't dry out. I added some apple brandy and vanill extract to the apricot preserces glaze recipe. The peaches turned out marvelously! The tart took longer to took than I expected but was picture-perfect and was a big hit with the guests. I was relieved there were leftovers so I could try some! I only wish the frangipane had firmed up a bit. I guess here's always room for improvement. My family certainly wouldn't complain if I baked another fruit tart for them to test.
