Every year in the early spring, I silently hope that this will be the year for the apricots; with no frost or lousy weather once the apricot trees are blooming. Sadly, for the past several years, it has been just the opposite; hail, freezing temperatures or strong southern winds destroying most of the delicate apricot flowers. Some of the stronger and brave ones survive to provide us with nature’s best gift, the fruit. And then we can make these juicy, sweet apricot tartlets, with a hint of buckwheat, to mark the beginning of summer.
I always loved apricots, especially the apricot tree in my grandmother’s garden. It was one of those old trees looking after generations to enjoy an afternoon coffee under its crown, or the juicy and sweet fruit in the early summer. Sadly that tree is gone now, leaving only the pleasant memories forever to be cherished.
The combination of buckwheat and apricots was always one of my favorites. These apricot buckwheat tartlets have the delicate, subtle taste of the buckwheat and the explosive sweet acidic taste of the apricots.
Apricots
Make sure you really have very ripe apricots at hand, as they provide more natural sugars and just taste way better than the non-ripe ones, which have harder flesh and are quite acidic. The best option is to scour the farmer’s market if there is one close to you.
The buckwheat flour
The key to this tart is in the buckwheat flour. The flour should be finely milled. Non-roasted buckwheat grain will have a very pale greenish color, slowly graduating towards white. The structure should resemble wheat bread flour. I like this subtle flavor of buckwheat so I generally don’t cook the flour. If you like a stronger flavor toast the buckwheat flour for 5-10 minutes over medium heat in a skillet.
As with any flaky, pie crust dough, less is always more, meaning don’t over-knead the dough. You want the butter to stay cool and not melted by the time you are finished with the dough. This will give us that flakiness when baked.
The apricot buckwheat tartlets should cool down before serving, but if you are like me and just can’t wait, it’s really tasty while still a bit warm. You can even add some vanilla ice cream on top to bring it up a notch.
Enjoy!
Apricot buckwheat tartlets
Equipment & Tools
- 4 Tart molds with disposable bottom, 12cm in diameter
- Food processor optional
INGREDIENTS
Tart crust
- 130 g all purpose flour
- 35 g buckwheat flour
- 10 g unrefined sugar
- pinch salt
- 70 g butter (Kerrygold; unsalted, cubed and chilled)
- 3½ tbsp water (ice cold)
The filling
- 4 tsp butter (melted and cooled)
- 8 apricots (medium size, 2 per tart)
- 4 tbsp unrefined sugar
Other
- 1 tbsp butter, for brushing (Kerrygold, melted)
- 4 scoops vanilla ice cream (optional)
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat the oven to 190°C.
- Brush the tart molds with butter. Set aside.
MAKE THE TART DOUGH
- In the food processor add sifted flours, sugar and salt. Pulse to mix the dry ingredients.
- Add chilled butter cubes and pulse until majority of the butter cubes are processed. Clean the sides and pulse again until no large clumps of butter are visible.
- Add chilled water and pulse until the dough just starts to come together. Don’t over mix the dough.
- Transfer the dough to the lightly floured counter, divide into four pieces, and shape each piece into a flat disc. Place the discs in the large zip-lock bag, close and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
ASSEMBLE THE TARTS
- Wash the apricots. Using a clean cloth wipe excess water from the fruit. Cut in half removing the seed. Set aside.
- Take the dough from the fridge and roll each disk of dough until it is 4mm thick.
- Place the rolled out dough carefully in the small tartlets and lightly press the dough against the bottom corners. Then lightly press the dough against the sides. Cut the extra dough, the part hanging over the rim of the tart mold, with the knife so that the dough is even all around.
- Brush each tartlet with the melted and cooled butter. If it is very warm in your kitchen you can place the tarts back in the fridge to set for 15 minutes, and if not let's continue.
- Take 4 apricot halves and slice each about ½ cm thick. Place them skin down into the tart molds. They should be snug. Sprinkle with sugar.
- Repeat with the remaining three tart molds.
- Bake for 50 minutes or until the apricots have started to caramelize on top.
NOTES
- I use zip-lock bags to store the tart dough while in the fridge, which I wash after each use and then they are ready to be re-used again.
- You can make the dough day ahead and store covered in the fridge.
- To store it for longer periods, place the tightly wrapped dough in the freezer for up to two weeks.
