An Elegant and Easy Tart or Dessert

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Apricot and Almond Jam Dartois

This easy recipe is named after a well-known French vaudeville artist François-Victor-Armand Dartois de Bourneville who lived in the 1700s. It is made from 2 layers of puff pastry which have either a sweet or savoury filling. This jam and apricot Dartois is quick to make and ideal for unexpected guests.

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

1 packet frozen puff pastry – defrosted

400g apricot jam

200g sliced almonds

Icing sugar

250 ml double Cream

Half a lemon

Method

Defrost the pastry

Preheat the oven to 200C degrees

Mix the sliced almonds into the jam. Open the pastry and gently roll on a floured surface to provide two equal portions of either round or rectangle shape pastry. Place one portion of pastry on a non-stick baking tray and spread the surface with the jam and almond mixture leaving a thumb’s width border all round.

Lightly wet the pastry border and place the other rectangle of pastry over the jam and almond mixture, seal the 2 portions of pastry carefully together.

Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Remove Dartois from oven and dust lightly with icing sugar put back in oven and cook a further 5 minutes until sugar has lightly caramelised. Serve with lemon cream.

Lemon cream

Squeeze the juice from half a lemon. Add the juice slowly to the cream and beat in well. Put in a serving bowl and place in fridge to chill until ready to serve.

Food Gifts For Christmas–Delicious Strawberry & Blueberry Jam

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I think homemade jams are lovely gifts and they can be made just that extra bit special by including a little ceramic jar in which to serve the jam, together with the recipe. You could also include a teaspoon, or jam spoon. I like including unusual spoons.

Makes about 750ml

Easy Strawberry & Blueberry Jam

Ingredients

1.5 kg fresh strawberries, rinsed and hulled

3 cups castor sugar or jam sugar

2 tablespoons orange-flavoured liqueur

1/2 cup fresh blueberries

1 tsp. cold butter

Method

Rinse the strawberries under cold running water, then drain and hull. Cut the strawberries in half or quarters, leave the small strawberries whole. Place the strawberries and blueberries in a deep, heavy-bottomed pot and toss them together with the sugar and orange-flavoured liqueur.

Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring often. Add the apple and continue to keep the mixture at a rolling boil, stirring occasionally, and skim and discard any foam that rises to the top, until the jam reaches 105C on a sugar thermometer. This should take 25 to 35 minutes. At this point the jam should have thickened quite nicely, add the cold butter, stir through and remove from the heat. Allow the mixture to cool to room temperature and then store covered in the refrigerator. It will keep refrigerated for at least 2 weeks. To keep the jam longer, pack and seal in canning jars according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Gift presentation

Place a pretty pot on top of the lid of the jam, place these two items in the middle of a square of cellophane paper, pull all the corners together at the top and tie with a bow. Hand write or type up the recipe, roll up and tie with a complementary bow or decoration of your choice.

Note:

• The pectin in the apple helps with the setting of the Jam. You can also replace the castor sugar with Jam sugar which already includes the necessary pectin.
• Don’t fret too much about removing every last scrap of foam that forms during the cooking process, this will disappear altogether with the addition of the cold butter at the end

Don’t for get this food gift idea posted  previously  the gift of home made Mayonnaise