Wait a Minute – Christmas Is Over?!

What’s cooking? Mamo’s Apricot Tarts

You say Santa has come and gone?! But I have these tarts for him! Well, “Qué será, será.” What this really means is that I started this post before Christmas, and then... well, you know,... Christmas. So a few things got lost in the shuffle. But these delightful little pastries are so easy and fun that I felt sure you wouldn’t really care if they’re too late to be Santa treats. Make them now, and then again in December for Santa.

My maternal grandmother was not known for her cooking. But she had two recipes at which she succeeded magnificently: brownies and apricot tarts. One of these days, I will divulge the secret recipe for her brownies – known to all of my friends as “Mamo’s Brownies” – but today is the day for her apricot tarts.

She sent me shoe boxes of them when I was away at college, and my suitemates would fall on them like thirsty men at an oasis in the desert. (Do you ever wonder why it was always men dying of thirst in the desert? Personally, I think women are much too smart to strike out on their own in unforgiving climes. But I digress.) Anyway, those little nibbles were that good. Not overly sweet, with a flaky crust dusted with powdered sugar, and a tiny surprise of stewed apricots inside.

I recently decided to try making them myself. I had plans to see my grandchildren over Thanksgiving, and we always enjoy baking together.

The first challenge was to adapt the recipe. For instance, hers called for three 3-ounce packages of cream cheese, which now only comes in 8-ounce packages. The second ingredient was two sticks of margarine. Margarine? As a committed butter user, I had to work my way around that one. Then there was no indication of the size of the “one package” of dried apricots. And on it went. To call the instructions minimalist would be a vast understatement. But the Kitchen Goddess forged ahead.

This project was especially fun because there’s a lot the grandchildren could do themselves. Once I got the dough rolled out, the 9-year-old cut out her own circles of dough, loaded them with the stewed apricots, and pinched the sides together herself. The 7-year-old didn’t like the icky way the dough felt on his hands, so I held the round of dough while he spooned apricots into it; then I folded it over and he pinched it shut. We managed this and another easy cookie (for another post), and we only took about 5 hours. It turns out that every project takes extra time when you’re baking with kids.

So here they are. I will give you the recipe the way I made them, which was by stewing apricots. My cousin Helen goes the simpler route and fills them with really good, really thick apricot preserves. I will leave you to make your own choice – including that of using a different fruit altogether – and you don’t have to tell me which direction you went.

Kitchen Goddess note: In the recipe below, the KG uses a combination of unsalted butter and Crisco – a technique she borrowed from her rollout cookies. You can just use 2 sticks of butter if you prefer, but Crisco’s higher melting point means it keeps the pastry layers separate longer as the dough bakes, which increases the flakiness/tenderness of the pastry and helps the tarts hold their shape in the oven.

Mamo’s Apricot Tarts

Makes about 3 dozen.

Ingredients

For the filling:
8 ounces dried apricots, cut in ¼-inch dice
½ cup sugar
about 2 cups of water

For the crust:
2 cups (250 grams) all-purpose flour
Rounded ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
One 8-ounce package cream cheese, chilled and cut into about 8 portions
10 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut in ½-inch dice
6 tablespoons Crisco

For the finished pies:
¼-½ cup powdered sugar

Special equipment: biscuit cutter, 3½-4 inches in diameter (I used a scalloped biscuit cutter because I thought it would look pretty, which it did, but – obviously – you can also use one with a plain edge. My grandmother used the lid to her percolator, so who knows what the original dimensions were.)

Directions

Start the stewed apricots first. In a small saucepan, stir together the apricots, the sugar, and 1 cup of water. Bring the mixture to a low boil and stir occasionally as the apricots absorb the water and become softer.

As the mixture becomes jammier, add more water in ½-cup increments. Continue to stir occasionally until the apricot pieces begin to lose their form, and the mixture becomes truly jammy. Periodically, you may want to adjust the heat to keep the apricots from burning. Stop cooking when it reaches a degree of jamminess you like. (The Kitchen Goddess tends to cook hers for about 2 hours.) Set aside to cool. 

Almost forgot to take this photo -- it’s what I had left after two batches of tarts. But you can see
the consistency of my stewed apricots. Pretty jammy.

Kitchen Goddess note: This recipe will make more apricot mixture than you need for one batch of tarts, but it freezes well in a plastic container, so you can make another batch at a moment’s notice!

While the apricots are cooking, make the dough.

Kitchen Goddess note: You can go the traditional route – mixing the dough by hand, using a pastry blender – but why would you? My grandmother mixed her dough by hand, but she was younger than I am now, and had no food processor. The KG uses her handy food processor, and has been delighted with the results. It takes almost no time at all, and it keeps the butter and shortening cold, which is key to producing flaky pastry. And the grandchildren enjoy taking turns at pulsing the machine.

Measure your flour and salt into the bowl of a food processor and pulse 3-4 times, to aerate the flour. Scatter the cream cheese, Crisco, and cold butter evenly on top of the flour, and pulse until the dough begins to come together in a couple of large lumps. This will take 20-25 pulses, depending on how long your pulses are.

Transfer the dough to waxed paper or cellophane wrap and refrigerate for 1-2 hours. A warning: You can actually refrigerate it overnight, but it becomes difficult to work with after only a couple of hours.

Prepare a baking sheet (or two) with baker’s parchment, and preheat the oven to 375º. Prepare a small (custard-size) bowl with about ¼ cup of cold water.

Divide the dough into halves, working one half at a time and refrigerating the other half. On a well-floured surface, roll the dough out to a ⅛-inch thickness. Use the biscuit cutter to cut circles you can hold on your open palm. Fill each circle of dough with about a teaspoon of the stewed apricots (or preserves), placing it slightly off-center so you have the other half to fold over. Dab a bit of the cold water around the edges of the circle, to help “glue” the two halves together. Fold the dough circles in half and use your fingers to gently press the rounded edges together.

Ready for the oven.

Ready for the powdered sugar!

Place the completed tarts at least an inch apart on the baking sheet and bake 23-25 minutes until light golden brown on top. Set the pan on a baking rack and let the tarts cool for 5-10 minutes. While they are still warm, sift powdered sugar over them. The tarts will keep, stored in a closed container, for several days.

Happy January to you all!