[lifestyle] David Atherton's recipe for lemon and ginger walnut frangipane tart

[HiTLeR]

 

Ground walnuts make a rich frangipane for this warming pastry inspired by the flavours of herbal tea

David Atherton

Wed 9 Dec 2020 13.00 GMT

 

During this chilly time I steadily drink litres of herbal tea and they often provide inspiration for my baking. Lemon and ginger tea is a favourite and this bake is essentially a lemon and ginger walnut frangipane tart.

 

Almost all nuts can be ground into a flour that work well in cakes, frangipanes, marzipans, or biscuits, but it is difficult to find anything apart from ground almonds in shops. It is really easy to make your own nut flours in a food processor, however. My only tip is to put the nuts in the fridge or freezer first, as this will stop them turning into a nut butter as they will stay cool while blitzing.

 

You can use whichever nut, spices or citrus that you like, and to really warm it up you can use brandy instead of lemon juice in the icing.

 

Serves 10
For the base
60g plain flour
40g wholemeal plain flour
½ tsp mixed spice
25g sugar
70g unsalted butter

For the filling
100g caster sugar
70g unsalted butter
2 medium eggs
Zest of 1 lemon (reserve juice for the icing)
180g walnuts
20g plain flour
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp baking powder
150g marmalade
50g halva
60g icing sugar

 

Preheat the oven to 190C/170C fan/374F/gas mark 5.

 

Line a 25cm loose-bottomed fluted tart tin with baking paper.

 

Put all the base ingredients in a mixing bowl and rub until they reach breadcrumb consistency.

Press into the base of the tin and bake for 20 minutes, then set aside to cool.

 

While the tart is baking, cream the sugar and butter until pale and fluffy, then beat in the eggs one at a time and the lemon zest.

Blitz the walnuts in a food processor until they are the consistency of ground almonds. Add the flour, ginger and baking powder and pulse until mixed.

Mix the dry mix into the wet mix to make your frangipane.

 

Spread the marmalade over the crumb base of the tart. Cover with the frangipane mixture, crumble the halva and sprinkle on the top, then bake for 35-40 minutes.

Allow to cool then mix the icing sugar with just enough of the reserved lemon juice until a loose pouring consistency. Drizzle this over the tart, and eat.