FFwD - Orange and Almond Tart

I can't believe that Friday has rolled around again already.  It has been a busy week for me, made even busier by the fact that I have had a head cold all week, which gives you a great smoochy grey blanket aura.

This week's French Fridays with Dorie recipe is the reverse  of the cotton wool-like bubble that my head has been occupying this week - it's bright, it's sunny, it's got sharp citrus flavours - why, it's an orange and almond tart!  My tart looks like its just floating there in my photo, but it is actually sitting on a white desk - I had to take another photo at work because the ones I took at home did not turn out.  The tart is comprised of a pastry shell, filled with almond cream and topped with segmented oranges.

My oranges were of the navel variety, which did not make for nice  segments because the navel takes a chunk out of the top of each segment.  With the pastry shell, I used up the rest of the pastry that I made for the fruit mince tarts before Christmas.  It is very buttery pastry, hence it went a deep golden brown with the hour cooking time.  I glazed the top of the tart with apple jelly - because I could.

My taste tester Sandra loved this tart, and gave it one of the best ratings I have had in ages.  I liked it too - the almond cream goes chewy with baking, and the oranges add a tart kick to it.

Other fruits can be substituted for the oranges (eg plums, figs, apricots), all of which would be delicious and work with the almond cream.

To check out some more great tarts, visit the LYL link at the FFwD website.