I love summer fruits and nectarines and macadamias make good friends. Based on a frangipane tart, macadamias in the pastry and the filling take it to a new level. Perfect dessert for Christmas day.
Ingredients
1/3 cup (45g) whole raw macadamias
1 cup (150g) plain
2 tablespoons caster
Pinch salt
90g cold butter, chopped
1 egg
½ teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons iced
3 (500g) nectarines or peaches, cut into
Ice-cream to serve
Macadamia Filling
1 ½ cups (210g) macadamias
½ cup (70g) plain flour
150g butter
2/3 cup (150g) firmly packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1/3 cup maple syrup
Instructions
Process macadamias until finely chopped, add flour, sugar, salt and butter until crumbly; add egg yolk, vanilla and water, process only until ingredients just come together. Do not overwork. Turn onto plastic wrap and gently knead together to form a disc. Wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Roll pastry between sheets of baking paper until large enough to line the base and side of a 24cm round loose-based flan tin. Peel away one sheet of baking paper, invert the pastry into the tin. Gently press pastry into the side then peel away the top sheet of paper. Trim the edges with a sharp knife. Prick with a fork and place in the freezer for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180’C. Place pastry in tin on a baking tray, cover pastry with baking paper, fill with dried beans or rice. Bake in a moderate oven for 15 minutes, then remove paper and weights and bake for a further10 minutes or until browned lightly.
Meanwhile, make the filling: Process the macadamias and two tablespoons of the flour until fine, add the butter and sugar and process well until pale. Add in the eggs, egg yolks and syrup and combine. Stir though the macadamia mixture and remaining flour.
Spread the Macadamia Filling into the pastry base, arrange the nectarine segments over the filling. Bake in a moderate oven for about 40 – 45 minutes or until golden brown and firm to touch. Cool.(If necessary shield the edges with foil to prevent burning.)
Dust with sifted icing sugar if desired or serve as is with ice-cream.
