Simple Mirabelle Plum Almond Tart
An orange scented, buttery shortbread crust filled with almond cream and topped with Mirabelle plums. The end of the summer perfect dessert.
Belula
August 21, 2017
January 01, 0001
There are all kinds of plums at the Parisian markets right now, Reine Claude, red plums, little plums, and my favourite kind: Mirabelle plums. They are small bites of heaven. They remind me of my friend Simon, and his mom. It was her who first introduced me to Mirabelle plums many years ago, when I came to Paris as an exchange student to Sciences Po. They are as good now as they were then. And they taste great in this almond plum tart. Hope you like it.
Ingredient notes
- First beat the butter until it obtains the consistency of mayonnaise (beurre pomade to use French terminology, or softened butter). Then add the sugar and orange zest and mix until incorporated.
- Then add the egg, salt and 1/3 of the flour and mix until incorporated. Remember to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Finally add the rest of the flour and mix until it is incorporated into the dough (about 30/45 seconds). Do not mix very long because we want to prevent the activation of the gluten in the flour, as we do not want the dough to become elastic (it will shrink when in the oven)!
How to make this recipe
Only 4 easy steps:
- Roll out the dough and line the tart tin.
- Fill the bottom with a thin layer of the almond cream. In this case you will use all the cream.
- Top with the Mirabelle Plums, gently pressing them in.
- Bake until golden!
Step by step instructions
For the shortbread orange crust:
- First beat the butter until it obtains the consistency of mayonnaise (beurre pomade to use French terminology, or softened butter). Then add the sugar and orange zest and mix until incorporated.
- Then add the egg, salt and 1/3 of the flour and mix until incorporated. Remember to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Finally add the rest of the flour and mix until it is incorporated into the dough (about 30/45 seconds). Do not mix very long because we want to prevent the activation of the gluten in the flour, as we do not want the dough to become elastic (it will shrink when in the oven)!
- Form a rectangle 2 cm high and refrigerate covered for a minimum of 2 hours before rolling it out.
For the almond cream:
This is probably the easiest recipe out there. You simply must:
- Bring the butter to the consistency of mayonnaise. In other words, make softened butter.
- Mix in the sugar, almond flour, and the flour until incorporated. Just for a couple of minutes.
- Finally add the egg. And one tablespoon of rum if you like it too!
Recipe notes:
- Softened butter is butter brought to the consistency of mayonnaise by letting it come to room temperature (about 19 to 20 C°). You can use the microwave to make softened butter, by heating it up in slots of 10 seconds. Make sure to mix in between each slot to prevent it from melting. Or if you live somewhere where it is hot leave it outside the fridge for 30 minutes. That should do the trick!
- Use all the almond cream to over the bottom of the crust.
- Make sure to gently press the plums into the cream.
Expert notes
- If you want to make the crust by hand: Using your fingertips mix the dry ingredients, the orange zest and the cold butter cut into cubes until you obtain a breadcrumb consistency. Make a well at the centre and add in the egg. Incorporate using one finger or a spatula. Transfer the dough onto your countertop and finish putting together the shortbread crust my smearing the dough using the palm of your hand. You can see how to do that here.
- If you want to make the crust extra crispy: you can blind bake the crust lined with parchment paper and pie weights for 10 minutes. Then remove the paper and wright, paint the bottom with a thin layer of beaten egg and put back in the oven for 1 minute to dry the egg. Remove, and assembly as instructed in the recipe.
Serving tips
This tart must be served at room temperature once it has completely cooled down.
A scoop of vanilla ice cream is strongly recommended!
Storing tips
Keep covered in plastic wrap in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Freezer instructions
Freezing this almond plum tart once it has been baked is note recommended. However you can freeze the different elements separately (explained in the next section).
Variations to this recipe
You can replace the Mirabelle plums for any other kind of plums you can get or like. By any another kind of stone fruit actually! They will all taste amazing: apricots, peaches, nectarines!
You can turn the almond cream into a frangipane cream by adding pastry cream (ratio is 2/3 almond cream to 1/3 pastry cream). You can find a delicious recipe of pastry cream here Gateau Basque Cake.
The ingredients used in all recipes on this site are measured using the metric system. I use a
scale to be precise with my measurements and ensure good results. If you would also like to use a scale, here are some:
USA,
Canada,
UK,
Australia,
France.
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Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
Servings: 8 servings
Nutrition: 246 cal
Cuisine: French
Orange Shortbread Crust
-
All-purpose Flour
140 g
-
Butter
80 g
-
Egg Yolks
1
-
Orange Zest
1
-
Sugar
45 g
-
Salt
1 pinch
Almond Cream Filling
-
Almond Flour
60 g
-
Powdered Sugar
60 g
-
Butter
(or unsalted)
60 g
-
Egg Yolks
1 g
-
All-purpose Flour
6 g
-
Mirabelles
300 g
- 1. Make the Orange Shortbread Crust: Using your fingertips mix the dry ingredients, the orange zest and the cold butter cut into cubes until you obtain a breadcrumb consistency. Make a well at the centre and add in the egg. Incorporate using one finger or a spatula. Transfer the dough onto your countertop and finish putting together the shortbread crust my smearing the dough using the palm of your hand. Repeat up to 3 or 4 times. Form a rectangle of about 2 cm tall. Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Overnight is best.
- 2. Make the Almond Cream: Bring the butter to the consistency of mayonnaise (you can use the microwave for this). Add the sugar, almond flour and flour and mix for a few minutes. Finally add the egg yolk. Mix to combine.
- 3. Assembly this simple almond plum tart: Pre-heat the oven to 170 C°. 3. Butter the tart tin. Cut the Mirabelle plums in half and remove the pit. Roll out the dough to about 4/5 mm and line the tin. Fill with the almond cream and spread it evenly. Top with the Mirabelle plums and gently press them in. Bake for about 40 minutes or until golden. Remove from the oven and unmold. Let it cool down at room temperature over a wire rack.
If you made this recipe I would really appreciate it if you leave a rating or comment below! Also, if you share on social media please use #cookwithbelula, I would love to see what you create!
I have a problem with the pastry sticking to the bottom of the tart pan - should I have removed the tart from there as well when I took it out of the oven? I merely took the fluted edge off. Orange really comes forward in the pastry.
HI Brigid! Indeed its better if you remove the tart completely from the pan while its still warm. You can place the tart pan on an upside down small bowl, the fluted edge will almost come off by itself, and then slide an offset spatula in between the tart pan and the tart pastry to make sure its not stuck to the bottom. Finally slide the tart onto a serving plate. It should come off pretty easy. Also, it should be kept in the refrigerator. Hope this helps!