servings
Shortcrust pastry
- 250 g type 45 flour
- 190 g butter softened at room temperature
- 5 g Guérande fleur de sel
- 3.5 g caster sugar
- ½ egg yolk 10 g
- 50 ml milk at room temperature
Spoon biscuits
- 2 egg whites 70 g
- 45 g caster sugar
- 2 egg yolks 40 g
- 25 g pastry flour
- 25 g potato starch
Cinnamon sugar
- 100 g icing sugar
- 5 g ground cinnamon
Assembly and finishing
- 1 kg fresh Alsace plums quetsches
- Apricot jam or apple jelly for glazing
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.
Tips and advice: You can either use the dough immediately after resting, keep it in the fridge for 2 days, or freeze it in tightly-wrapped portions. Before using, let it defrost slowly in the fridge. Spread the thawed dough but do not rework it, as this will cause it to lose its melt-in-the-mouth texture.
