Pear-and-apricot Tart

---------- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.02

Title: PEAR-AND-APRICOT TART
Categories: Pies, Desserts, Fruits/nuts
Yield: 14 servings

---------------------------FOR THE ALMOND PASTRY---------------------------
3 c Unbleached all-purpose flour
18 tb Unsalted butter; chilled
- cut into small pieces
2 Eggs
1 tb Milk
2 ts Vanilla extract
4 tb Sugar
1 ts Salt
1/2 c Finely chopped almonds
Flour

------------------------------FOR THE FILLING------------------------------
3 7-oz tubes almond paste
2 Eggs
2 tb Amaretto liquor
14 Canned pear halves, in juice
-OR in extra light syrup
- drained or blotted dry
14 Canned apricot halves
- in extra-light syrup or
- juice, drained
- and blotted dry
1/2 c Apple jelly
8 oz Low-fat vanilla yogurt
4 oz Sour cream

MAKE THE CRUST: Combine the flour, butter, eggs, milk and vanilla in the
bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel chopping blade. With an on-off
motion, process until the butter is the size of small peas. Add the sugar,
salt and almonds and process just until the dough starts to pull together.
Do not overprocess. Remove the dough from the bowl, pat it into a ball,
then flatten it into a disk about 3/4-inch thick, and dust with flour.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Preheat oven
to 375F. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and gently massage it until
it is workable, turning it over a couple of times, and starting to flatten
it with your fingertips. Dust the dough, rolling pin and board or pastry
cloth with flour, and quickly roll dough into a rectangle large enough to
fit into an 11-by-17-inch jelly roll pan and about 1/8-inch thick. If the
dough sticks, add small amounts of flour and loosen with a dough scraper or
long, thin-bladed knife. Carefully roll the dough over the pin or fold it
into quarters and position it over the pan. Unroll, and ease the dough into
the tart pan, working to flatten the bottom and to ease the dough well into
the corners and against the sides. Patch where necessary, then trim off any
excess dough with a knife. Prick in several places, and transfer the pan to
the middle of the preheated oven to bake just until the pastry is set but
not browned, about 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the pan and let the pastry cool
while preparing the filling.

FILL THE TART: In a medium-size bowl, combine the almond paste, eggs and
amaretto, beating with an electric mixer until smooth. Scrape the mixture
into the crust, and spread it evenly with a metal spatula. With a sharp,
thin-bladed knife, cut across each pear half at 1/4-inch intervals. You
should end up with about 7 slices. Beginning at the left edge of 1 long
side, place the wide end of the pear touching the side of the pan, pressing
gently to elongate it. Put an apricot half at the narrow end. Next, place
an apricot touching the side of the pan, to the right of the first pear,
and add a sliced pear with the narrow end touching the apricot. Continue
until the whole side is filled with 7 pear halves and 7 apricot halves.
Repeat the same procedure for the second half of the tart, continuing with
the pears facing in the same direction as they do in the first row. Return
the pan to the oven, and bake until the almond paste is light brown and the
crust is a rich brown, about 15 to 18 minutes. While the tart is baking,
melt the jelly over low heat. Remove the baked tart, brush on the jelly
glaze, and let the tart cool to room temperature. Cut the tart into serving
size portions of an apricot and pear on each slice. Combine the yogurt with
the sour cream and spoon it over the tart as it is served.

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