Apricot and Gingersnap Rustic Tarts

Made With Fresh Apricots and Store-Bought Gingersnaps

Reprinted with permission. Martha Holmberg, Puff, Chronicle Books, 2008

• Servings: Makes 6 4-inch tarts.

In Martha Holmberg's wonderful book dedicated to puff pastry called Puff, she gives us a sweet dessert tart that uses fresh apricots and coarse crumbs from store-bought gingersnaps:  "I often see stone fruit paired with amaretti cookies, but they're not so easy to find, so I used good old Nabisco gingersnaps."  Besides being easier to find, their spicy ginger flavor combines beautifully with the apricot's musky sweetness.

Besides apricots, these tarts can be made with any stone fruit, including plums and pluots.  "Their sweet but slightly astringent flavor mellows and deepens in the heat, and as the moisture cooks off, the texture gets slightly chewy," she writes, and it also creates a nice contrast with the pastry's rich, flaky crust.

Ingredients

• 4 to 6 ripe medium apricots (about 12 ounces total), pitted and cut into 1/4-inch wedges
• 1 to 2 tablespoons granulated sugar (depending on sweetness of apricots)
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
• Pinch of kosher salt
• 1 sheet (about 9 ounces) frozen puff pastry, thawed
• 2 tablelspoons unsalted butter, melted
• 6 gingersnaps (about 2 inches in diameter - Nabisco's are good; about 1 1/2 ounces), crushed into coarse crumbs
• Powdered sugar, for dusting (optional)

Directions

1. Heat the oven to 425° F.
2. In a medium bowl, toss the apricots with the sugar, flour, lemon zest, and salt. Set aside (don't do this more than 15 minutes ahead or the apricots may give off a lot of juice).
3. On a lightly floured counter, roll the pastry into a 9-by-13 1/2-inch rectangle and cut it into six 4 1/2-inch squares. Arrange the pastry squares on a baking sheet. Brush each with melted butter.
4. Sprinkle a pile of gingersnap crumbs in the center of each pastry square, leaving about a 1-inch border. Divide the apricots among the pastry squares, just piling them haphazardly in the center, no need to arrange.
5. Pull up all four corners of each square and pinch the points together in the center (they will come apart a bit as they bake).
6. Bake until the pastry is puffed and brown and the edges of the apricots are slightly browned, about 15 minutes.
7. Reduce the heat to 375° F and cook for another 5 to 6 minutes to ensure that the pastry is cooked through and the fruit is a little drier.
8. Transfer to a cooling rack, dust with powdered sugar, if you like, and serve warm.