Caramel Nut Tart

Here is a delicious autumn nut tart that you can make with practically any mixture of nuts. Just make sure you get the freshest nuts possible – from your local farmers market, or from the bins at stores with high turnover like Whole Foods. We use nuts frozen from last year’s harvest. Nuts will get rancid, so definitely check for that before using. Freeze any nuts left over. The recipe is from Bon Appétit magazine, December 1998 issue. The Bon Appétit recipe calls for the drizzling of melted white chocolate on top of the tart for decorative effect. Just melt a ounce of white chocolate over a double boiler and use a fork to drizzle swirls on top of the tart. I don’t think this tart needs any more sweetness, so we skipped that step. But it is excellent with whipped cream.

Caramel Nut Tart Recipe

• Yield: Serves 10.

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Ingredients

Crust Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3-4 tablespoons ice water

Filling Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 2/3 cup whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 cup pecans, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 cup slivered blanched almonds

• Whipped cream (optional)

• 9 1/2 inch tart pan with removable bottom

Method

Crust:

1 Place flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a food processor, and pulse until mixed. Add the pieces of butter and pulse until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. Mix in vanilla and enough ice water by tablespoonfuls to form moist clumps. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours.

2 Preheat oven to 375°F. Roll dough out on floured surface to 12-inch round. Transfer dough to 9 1/2-inch-diameter tart pan with removable bottom. Fold overhang in and press, forming high-standing double-thick sides. Pierce dough all over with fork. Freeze 15 minutes.

3 Bake crust until set but still pale in color, piercing with fork if crust bubbles, about 20 minutes. Transfer to rack; cool. Increase oven temperature to 400°F.

Filling:

4 Combine sugar and 1/4 cup water in heavy medium saucepan. Stir over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat. Boil without stirring until caramel is deep amber color, occasionally brushing down sides of pan with wet pastry brush and swirling pan, about 10 minutes. Reduce heat to medium.

Gradually whisk in cream (mixture will bubble). Stir until caramel is smooth. Add butter, honey and vanilla. Stir until well blended. Mix in all nuts.

5 Pour caramel mixture into crust. Bake until entire filling bubbles, about 20 minutes. Cool completely on rack.

Serve with whipped cream (optional).

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