Vanilla Plum Tart

The recipe is based on one from Donna Hay’s Flavors, but instead of vanilla extract I used a whole vanilla bean for an extra punch of flavor. This is best eaten slightly warm with a dollop of very lightly sweetened crème fraîche, whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Vanilla Plum Tart

tart dough

8 tablespoons (1 stick or 4 ounces) unsalted butter at room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg yolk
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup almond meal

Using your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla extract on medium speed until light and smooth. Add the egg yolk and blend for several minutes until smooth. Add the flour and almond meal and stir on low speed until the dough just comes together.

Turn the dough out onto plastic wrap and shape into a disk. Wrap the tough tightly in the plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes before rolling (the dough may be made a day ahead and refrigerated overnight, but you’ll want to let it warm up for 5 to 10 minutes at room temperature before attempting to roll it out).

When you’re ready to finish making the tart, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Roll out the tart dough on a lightly floured surface. Gently place the tart dough in an 8-inch tart pan with a removable bottom and prick the base of the dough with a fork to prevent steam bubbles from forming under the dough. Cover the tart dough with parchment paper and fill with pie weights, dried beans or rice.

Bake for 6 minutes, remove the parchment paper and weights and continue baking for an additional 6 minutes or until the tart shell is a very pale golden color and the surface is dry. Set tart shell on a rack to cool a little while you prepare the filling.

filling

3 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) unsalted butter
1 cup superfine sugar
1 1/4 cups almond meal
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 whole vanilla bean, split and scraped
2 eggs
2 or 3 plums, thickly sliced

Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F.

Add all the filling ingredients except the plums to the bowl of your food processor and process until smooth. Spread the filling evenly over the bottom of the partially blind-baked tart shell. Carefully arrange and gently press the plum slices into the filling.

Bake for 40 minutes or until the filling is golden brown and the fruit is soft.