Apricot Almond Tart

This is a great recipe from the Be-Ro Recipe Book.  Flour companies Be-Ro and McDougalls have both
been publishing books of popular recipes for decades.  Unlike the treatise of the latest celeb chef, these books are the store-cupboard standby that will remain long after the star of today's culinary cognoscenti has set.  The reason why?  Well, unlike chefs who, in their enthusiasm to convey the potential of the kitchen, enjoin home cooks to source squid-ink pasta or go candy their own primrose leaves, these books have been tried and tested by the most critical audience out there: generations of housewives (and more recently househusbands); people who will not tolerate having their time or their money wasted when all they wanted was to knock up something quick for Sunday tea.  The recipes are traditional favourites, are easy to follow, use ingredients you have at home or are always in the local supermarket, and just work.  The Be-Ro Book is now onto its 40th edition; if there was a clanger of a recipe in there, it's been weeded out by now.

I have co-opted the sweet pastry recipe for the base as it's simply the best I've come across.  And it's the pastry that makes this recipe.

Ingredients

1 x 25cm (10 inch) sweet pastry shell, baked blind

For the filling:
170g unsalted butter, softened
170g caster sugar
3 medium eggs, beaten
1/2 tsp almond essence
170g ground almonds
1 x 397g can apricot halves, drained

For the glaze (optional):
2 tbsp apricot jam
dash of lemon juice

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 220C (200C if fan-assisted).
Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Mix together eggs and almond essence, beat a little a time into the cream butter and sugar.
Stir in the ground almonds.
Spread mixture evenly into the flan case.
Arrange the apricots on top.
Bake in the oven for 15mins, then turn down to 180C (160C if fan-assisted) for 25mins.  The top should go golden brown but can start to over-brown before the rest of the filling underneath has set, in which case cover it loosely with tin foil.  If you forget, or have run out of foil, remember that in baking, a generous dusting of icing sugar covers a multitude of sins.

Leave to cool.

Once cool, make the glaze by heating the jam on a low heat in a saucepan with the lemon juice.  Stir slowly until runny.  The best jam for this is Hartley's No-Bits that hasn't got any fruit pieces in it, otherwise you have to strain the heated jam through a sieve to remove them, which is a pain and leaves you with a very sticky sieve.  If you have a pastry brush, you can use that to brush the glaze over the top of the cooled tart, but personally I just spoon it on then use the back of the spoon to spread it round.