Sweet Pastry Dough

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

pinch of salt

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1 large egg yolk

1 tablespoon ice water

In a food processor, combine the flour, salt, sugar, and butter.  Pulse until coarse.  In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolk and ice water.  With the processor running, add the yolk mixture to the flour and butter until a ball forms.  Remove the dough, wrap it in plastic, flatten to a disk, and chill for 1 hour.

Roll the dough out on a lightly floured sufrace and place it in a tart pan with a removable bottom. Chill before baking.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Remove the tart pan from the fridge, prick the crust all over with a fork, line the shell with foil, and fill with dried beans.  Bake for 17 minutes, remove the foil and beans, and continue baking for another 6 minutes.  Cool completely before filling.

Apricot Tart

sweet pastry dough tart shell

2-3 apricots
2 egg yolks
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons flour
1/4 cup chopped hazelnuts

Peel the apricots, slice, and arrange in the bottom of a blind-baked tart shell.

Combine the egg yolks, cream, sugar, and flour.  Pour over the apricots and sprinkle with the hazelnuts. Bake in a preheated 350 degree F oven for 35 minutes.

When you tast this one, you can still sense the heaviness left behind.  It's the shadow under the sweet, the question on the tip of your tongue.

* from Jodi Picoult

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