ffwd - orange-almond tart

Here we are at another French Friday with Dorie! Whew, what a week. I feel pretty beat up from the street up! But, this too shall pass. Of course, I have next week to look forward to: I jet off to Puerto Rico for a week (for work), and I'm looking forward to a little Island Time! I get to see all of my friends that I work with there (I think I've shared a little about the wonderful cookies I made with their recipes...). It should be a teriffic trip. Maybe I'll even come back with something new and interesting to make for my friends on the mainland!

I made this week's recipe on Super Bowl Sunday (yay cheeseheads!), and while it was a little more sophisticated than the rest of the menu, it offered me an opportunity to get a little extra feedback. I'd kind of hoped to make this again this week, because I think... I can do better! That said, there was a pretty good reception to this week's ffwd recipe.

ready to go as usual
(I confess, I almost forgot this step...oops!)
and also as usual, ingredients I already had on hand



for the crust, first you blend together the flour, powdered sugar and salt
then pulse in the butter
next comes the egg to bind it all together, and probably add a little more richness



this is what it looks like when it's come together properly
Dorie had us knead this together a couple of times
(my poor zillion-year-old food processor - stained by the red velvet cookies at Christmas!)



I pressed in the crust, I love that alternative
it's pretty even, and so much easier, I used a stainless measuring cup to even things out
I did keep the step of chilling/freezing



just as I was getting ready to compose this post, I realized why my crust was "over baked"
my favorite tart pan is dark - duh, reduce the temperature!
but it was really a bit over-done (for me)



despite the fact that I live in Arizona, and we have amazing citrus available right now,
I ended up using some California "Cara Cara" oranges, which are "pink"
I thought that the color would be pretty



the finished tart
I added a bit more fruit than Dorie showed, because I thought it would be even better
I have to say, looks pretty ok!

 Some cook's notes:

• I should have used the local oranges - these were nice, but almost a cross between pink grapefruit and a navel orange
• I'm sorry I used the almond flour I had on hand - I've actually ordered some new, or could pick some more up, I want to try this again with a fresher bag
• Next time, I want to bake the crust a shorter time and/or at a lower temperature

All of that said, both times I served this (I shared some the next day as well), my friends really liked the dessert. What I loved most was the contrast of the buttery crust and the juicy burst of flavor from the oranges, which really came through the day it was baked. I thought the crust was too much, others - it was their favorite part. So I want to make this again, with a couple of corrections, because I think it was a really nice tart, but I didn't get it exactly right.

Of course, who knows what I'll just by dying to make when I get back from Puerto Rico? - but hopefully I'll still get a chance for a do-over!!