Apricot-Almond Tartlets

Rehearsal dinner on Saturday. I cooked for fifty people in a church hall kitchen that I know like my own because I have been cooking in it for twenty years. Roast chicken thighs in sheet pans with garlic and herbs, a big risotto that I kept moving while the guests arrived, the cucumber salad, yeast rolls, and a sheet pan of peach cobbler for dessert because I had peaches from a neighbor's tree that were exactly right and I could not let them go to waste.

Travis's family came in full — his mother Carolyn, his two brothers and their wives, aunts and cousins from Memphis and Atlanta, a grandmother in her eighties named Miss Ocie who sat at the head of the table and accepted food but declined to eat much and instead observed everything with the sharp quiet attention of a woman who has been watching families assemble for a long time. I introduced myself to her at the beginning of the evening and she held my hand for a moment and said, your daughter has good eyes. I said thank you. She said, I can always tell. I believed her.

Travis stood up and spoke about Destiny in front of his whole family, which is no small thing — men in his family, Carolyn told me afterward, are not generally given to public sentiment. He talked about the first time he understood she was the one, which was a moment she had apparently told him she did not want repeated publicly, so he paused and looked at her and revised on the fly and she covered her face laughing and that moment, right there, was the whole story of who they are together. I made a note of it in my memory to tell CJ. That's what you want to see, I will tell him. That moment right there.

I drove home at eleven-thirty with empty pans and sore feet and a full heart. Tomorrow she gets married.

I made the peach cobbler that night because the peaches were there and they were perfect, and that’s the truest reason to make anything. But if I were doing it again — if I were cooking for a night like that one, with Miss Ocie at the head of the table and Travis revising his words in real time while Destiny laughed into her hands — I think I’d add these Apricot-Almond Tartlets to the dessert spread. Stone fruit and almond belong together the way the right people belong together: there’s a reason it works, and once you know it, you can’t imagine it any other way. These are easy enough to make ahead and elegant enough to feel like the occasion.

Prep Time: 25 minutes | Cook Time: 22 minutes | Total Time: 47 minutes | Servings: 12 tartlets

Ingredients

1 package (14.1 oz) refrigerated pie crusts (2 sheets), or homemade shortcrust pastry
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure almond extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup almond flour (finely ground blanched almonds)
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
6 fresh apricots, halved and pitted (or 12 canned apricot halves, well drained)
1/4 cup apricot jam
1 tablespoon water
2 tablespoons sliced almonds, for topping
Powdered sugar, for dusting (optional)

Instructions

Preheat and prep. Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a standard 12-cup muffin tin or set out 12 individual 3-inch tartlet pans on a baking sheet.
Cut the pastry shells. On a lightly floured surface, unroll the pie crusts. Using a 4-inch round cutter (or a wide-mouth jar lid), cut out 12 rounds. Press each round gently into the muffin cups or tartlet pans, fitting the pastry up the sides. Prick the bottoms a few times with a fork. Refrigerate while you make the filling.
Make the frangipane. In a medium bowl, beat the softened butter and granulated sugar together until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in the almond extract and vanilla extract. Fold in the almond flour, all-purpose flour, and salt until just combined and smooth.
Fill the shells. Remove the pastry-lined pan from the refrigerator. Spoon about 1 1/2 tablespoons of frangipane into each shell, spreading it evenly to fill about two-thirds of the way up.
Add the apricots. Press one apricot half, cut side up, gently into the center of the frangipane in each tartlet. Scatter sliced almonds around the fruit.
Bake. Bake for 20 to 22 minutes, until the frangipane is set and golden at the edges and the pastry is lightly browned. A toothpick inserted into the almond filling should come out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.
Glaze. In a small saucepan over low heat, stir together the apricot jam and water until the jam is melted and smooth. Brush the warm glaze over the tops of the tartlets while they are still slightly warm. Let set for 5 minutes.
Finish and serve. Dust lightly with powdered sugar if desired. Serve at room temperature. Tartlets can be made up to one day ahead and stored loosely covered at room temperature.

Nutrition (per serving)

Apricot-Almond Tartlets — The Dessert I’d Make Again for a Night Like That