Ingredients

For the crust:

  • 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon cake flour
  • ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
  • 8 ounces (1 package) cream cheese, chilled and cut into small pieces

For the filling:

  • 1 ¼ cups (4 ounces) blanched, sliced almonds
  • ½ cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
  • ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
  • 3 large eggs
  • ¼ cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Pinch of salt
  • 10 ripe Santa Rosa plums, pitted and sliced
  • Demerara sugar for sprinkling

For serving:

  • Whipped creme fraiche or vanilla ice cream

    8 servings

    Preparation

    1. To prepare dough, in a food processor, combine flours, sugar and salt and pulse a few times. Add butter and cream cheese. Process until mixture just comes together. Turn dough onto a piece of plastic wrap, press it into a disk, wrap it well and refrigerate until chilled, at least 2 hours or overnight.
    2. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Cut dough into 8 equal pieces. Roll each piece between sheets of plastic wrap into 1/8-inch-thick rounds (about 6 inches in diameter). Place pastry rounds on one or two baking sheets that have been lined with parchment paper or nonstick liners. Chill rounds while preparing filling.
    3. For filling, in a food processor, combine almonds with 1 tablespoon of sugar. Pulse until mixture becomes a fine meal (avoid over-processing). Add butter, 2 eggs, flour, vanilla and salt and process until combined.
    4. In a bowl, beat remaining egg with 1 tablespoon water. Brush this egg wash over prepared pastry rounds. Spoon about 2 tablespoons almond filling in center of each pastry round and spread it to within 2 inches of the edge. Arrange plum slices in a spiral over filling. Sprinkle raw sugar generously over plums. Fold edges of tart dough up over edges of plums. Dough will overlap.
    5. Bake tarts until pastry is golden brown, about 18 to 20 minutes. Serve warm with whipped creme fraiche or vanilla ice cream.

    45 minutes

    Dining and Cooking