First they faced off over rice pudding, then hot toddies -- it's time for another A&M Smackdown! Will Merrill win yet again or will...
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About as close as our food styling gets to steampunk. Milk, almond extract, sufar, oil, butter, peaches, flour, steel tart pan, and attitude.
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I mix vegetable oil and...
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olive oil.
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Add some milk to the oils.
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Cool, right?
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After adding the almond extract, whisk these liquids untl they emulsify.
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Then add the oil mixture to the flour, sugar, and salt, and blend with a fork.
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Until it looks like this, a bit crumbly but moist.
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I like to break it into clumps and flatten them so I have a sense of how I'll cover the base of the pan.
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Then I get to work on the sides. It's easier to get the thickness right now than to wait until you've covered the base of the pan.
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Then it's time to flatten out the rest and cover all those empty patches. Pressing with confidence matters here -- and be patient.
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When it's done, it should look like this.
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Begin filling the pastry with sliced peaches. I'm too lazy to peel the peaches. Sue me!
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In the center, I cut the peach slices to fit. And see how snug the rest are. Get snug!
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Time to make the topping. I'm about to pinch soft butter into a mixture of mostly sugar, with a little salt and flour mixed in.
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Pinching!
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Until it looks like this.
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Then you shower it on top of the peaches. It will seem like too much. It's not. Use it all.
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Slide it into the oven.
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And await this!
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And this!
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The ingredients: peaches, sugar, egg yolk, butter, mascarpone, blanched almonds (barely peeking up from the bottom of the shot), peach jam and flour.
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Baking purists will be happy to know I weighed out my dry ingredients for this crust!
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Grinding up the blanched almonds.
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Ground almonds! (Don't go too far, or you'll have almond butter.)
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In go the rest of the dry ingredients.
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And then just a leeeetle bit of butter...
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Egg yolks add richness and will make the dough a beautiful golden color.
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Ice water to pull it all together.
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Dough!
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Once the dough has been chilled (I let it sit in the fridge overnight), it's time to roll it out. (I used Amanda's trick of rolling it between two floured pieces of plastic wrap.)
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You can also press the dough into the tartlet pans, but I was feeling virtuous.
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When it's about 1/8-inch thick, I cut pieces about an inch wider than the tartlet molds.
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Keep a spatula handy for this part -- the dough is delicate.
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The rolling pin trick works just as well on these mini tart pans as it does on the larger ones.
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Time for a diamond-shaped tartlet!
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Same method, different shape.
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Time for blind-baking. The tiny pans don't really need beans -- just a good docking with a fork.
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The shells are out and cool, so it's time for a thin layer of peach jam (use the best you can get/make).
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A generous dollop of mascarpone. I didn't sweeten it, as there's already plenty of sweet in here!
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You need to use perfectly ripe peaches for these tarts -- they're not getting cooked, so you want to start with juicy, sweet fruit.
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Assembly.
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Brushing them with a little glaze made from the same jam you used earlier.
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Perfect for a dolls' tea party.
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