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Dinosaur Egg-Frangipane Tart


When one of my best friends invited us over for dinner, and said that it was a birthday celebration for her mom, I offered to bring something for dessert. I wanted to use the gorgeous and amusingly-named Dinosaur Egg pluots and asked for her vote: frangipane tart, galette, or flaugnarde. She asked for clarification on the flaugnarde - I said it's basically a clafoutis but not with cherries - then she opted for the frangipane tart. Perfect...because that's what I was leaning towards anyway.


Dinosaur Eggs are pluots - a hybid of an plum and an apricot - and a hit with almost every kid I know. For the name alone. But the taste is amazing, too. And since we noshed through all of the ones in my fruits bowl this week, I handed my dad some cash and asked him to pick up a bag-full for me at the farmers' market while I was at work on Friday. When I picked up the boys and my dinosaur eggs, I asked my dad, "Do you remember from which farm stand you got these?" Blank stare. You didn't say that I had to take notes! You just asked for the fruit. True.

Cardamom-Scented PĂ¢te BrisĂ©e
I started with my usual PĂ¢te BrisĂ©e and added cardamom because I thought it would complement the sweetness of the dinosaur eggs. This is a super easy, fantastically flaky crust.

2 C all-purpose flour
1/2 C white whole wheat flour
1/2 C finely ground blanched almonds or almond flour
1 C butter, very-cold, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
dash of ground cardamom
6 to 8 T ice water

I don't have a food processor, so I use a pastry blender and do it all by hand. Place the flour, ground almonds, ground cardamom, and cold butter in a large bowl. Use the pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse meal, with pea size pieces of butter. Add ice water 1 T at a time, until mixture just begins to clump together. If you squeeze some of the crumbly dough and it holds together, it's ready. If the dough doesn't hold together, add a little more water and cut again. Note that too much water will make the crust tough. Once the dough comes together into a ball, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before using.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Roll out the PĂ¢te BrisĂ©e between two pieces of parchment paper and lay it over your tart pan with a removable bottom. Gently press the crust into your pan, carefully removing the excess crust from the top of the pan. Prick the bottom of the crust with a fork and bake for 20 minutes.

Frangipane
1/2 C ground almonds
1/2 C sliced almonds
1/4 C organic granulated sugar
1/4 C powdered sugar
2/3 C melted butter
1 large egg

Mix everything together to form a paste.

Once the tart crust is cooked, spread a layer of frangipane over the bottom. Slice the dinosaur eggs and arrange them in concentric circles to cover the frangipane in a flower pattern. Sprinkle with sugar and bake for 50-55 minutes, until the plouts have softened.


Happy birthday, Connie! 

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