Impress your friends and family with this Apricot Flan - it's easier to make than you'd think!
Ingredients
For the Pastry:
225g (8 oz) plain flour
2 tbsp icing sugar
115g (4 oz) butter
3-4 tbsp cold water
For the Filling:
85g (3 oz) butter
85g (3 oz) caster sugar
1 large egg
A few drops of almond extract
85g (3 oz) ground almonds
2 cans of apricot halves in fruit juice or light syrup, drained
25g (1 oz) flaked almonds
Serves 8
Method
1. Make shortcrust pastry in the normal way, roll out to line a 20cm flan dish and prick with a fork.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together, beat in the egg, then the almond extract and ground almonds.
3. Drain the apricot halves and pat dry with kitchen paper. Arrange over the base of the flan, then spread the frangipane mixture evenly over the top and sprinkle with the flaked almonds.
4. Cook on the floor of the main oven at 180°C (350°F), Gas mark 4, for about 25-30 minutes until golden brown. If browning too quickly, slide in a cold plain shelf on the second set of runners above.
Although this recipe calls for canned fruit, do use ripe fresh apricots if you have them. Tinned pears also work well with this recipe.