A recipe by Pierre Hermé: Quetsche tart

Shortcrust pastry

With a mixer:

• Sift the flour into a bowl.
• Place the butter, salt and sugar in the mixer with a plastic blade. Add the egg yolk and milk. Blend until smooth.
• Add the flour, blend, and as soon as the dough forms a ball, stop.
• Wrap in cling film and chill for at least 2 hours.

By hand:

• Cut the butter into small pieces and soften with a wooden spatula.
• Mix the milk, salt and sugar in a bowl, then drizzle over the butter while stirring.
• Add the egg yolk.
• Sift the flour, then stir into the butter mixture. Knead quickly.
• On a floured surface, flatten the dough with the palm of your hand, gather it into a ball and repeat. Flatten slightly, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Blind baking the pastry shell:

• Preheat the oven to 180°C (gas mark 6).
• Roll out the dough into a pastry ring (24 cm diameter, 3 cm high). Prick with a fork and rest 30 minutes in the fridge.
• Cover with greaseproof paper and dried beans. Bake 20 minutes, remove beans and paper, then bake another 10 minutes.

Spoon biscuits

• Preheat oven to 230°C (gas mark 7-8).
• Sift together flour and potato starch.
• Whisk egg whites with sugar until stiff.
• Add yolks and mix gently.
• Fold in flour/starch mixture with a spatula.
• Spread onto a lined baking tray. Bake ~5 minutes. Cool on wire rack.
• Leave to dry, then blend finely into a powder.

Cinnamon sugar

• Mix icing sugar and ground cinnamon together.

Assembly and finishing

• Preheat fan oven to 160°C (gas mark 5).
• Sprinkle ~50 g of spoon biscuit powder over pre-baked tart base.
• Halve the plums, remove stones and arrange upright, packed tightly.
• Sprinkle generously with cinnamon sugar.
• Bake 30–40 minutes. Cool to room temperature.
• Brush tart edge with apricot jam or apple jelly, then coat with cinnamon sugar.
• Place tart on serving dish and keep at room temperature.
• Just before serving, sprinkle with more cinnamon sugar.