Apricot, Lavender and Honey Tart

There are beautiful punnets of fresh apricots in the stores at the moment and with the sun shining, this is a great recipe for a quick dessert or picnic treat.

Use fresh lavender heads if you have them in the garden or the dried ones you can buy from spice counters. I used fresh for this and the smell as I sprinkled them over the base was divine.

We await our own apricots in the orchard but until then the store bought punnets are perfect. You could also use nectarines or peaches for this if you can’t get apricots. To serve all you need is lovely cold fresh cream - enjoy!

Ingredients:

Pastry

• 180g plain flour
• 100g cold butter cut into cubes
• 2 tbsp icing sugar
• 1 large free range egg, beaten

Filling

• 3 tbsp apricot jam
• approx 5 heads of lavender plus extra for decoration
• 500g punnet of apricots, stoned and cut into 6 pieces
• Runny honey

Method:

1. First make the pastry. I use a food processor to blitz the flour, butter and icing sugar until they resemble bread crumbs. Pour the egg in through the funnel on the lid and pulse the machine until the pastry just comes together. Roll into a ball, wrap in clingfilm and chill in fridge for at least 1 hour.
2. Preheat oven to 180C / 170C fan and butter a 23cm fluted tart tin.
3. Roll out the pastry to slightly larger than the tin, then line the tin with the pastry. Prick the base with a fork then place a large piece of crumpled parchment over the base and pour over baking beans (see image below). Bake for 15 minutes then carefully remove the paper and beans, returning to the oven for a further 5-7 minutes to crisp up. This helps avoid a soggy bottom with the pastry case.
4. Remove then spoon the jam over the base and sprinkle with lavender. Arrange the apricot slices around the top then drizzle all over with honey.
5. Return to oven for a further 15 - 20 minutes until the apricots are cooked and starting to brown.
6. To serve, decorate with more lavender and serve with freshly whipped cold cream.