Musicians' tart

Along the Catalan countryside, it was once said that musicians were paid in dried fruit, nuts and sweet wine. This payment combo falls into line with musicians' tart, a sweet slice that starts with a sweet crust.

Musicians' tart Credit: Tammi Kwok

• serves

  8

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  15 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 1 shortcrust pastry (see Note)

Filling

• 1 cup dates, pitted and roughly chopped
• 1 cup apples, dried and roughly chopped
• ¼ cup apple juice
• ½ cup brown sugar

Topping

• 100 g salted butter
• 80 g brown sugar
• 3 tbsp maple syrup
• 100 ml thickened cream
• 80 g pine nuts (see Note)
• 80 g almonds
• 100 g cashews

Instructions

1. Combine all filling ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Then remove from the heat and cool.
2. In a food processor, blitz the slightly cooled mixture until a thick fruity paste forms.
3. In a separate saucepan over medium heat, combine the butter, sugar and maple syrup until the sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil and then remove from the heat.
4. Stir in the nuts and the thickened cream until combined.
5. To assemble, spread the fruit paste onto the cooled shortcrust pastry and spoon the sweetened nut topping over the top and bake at 180°C for 15 mins or until golden.
6. Cool completely in the pan and serve with a glass of sweet wine or some whipped cream.

Notes

• To make the shortcrust, follow the steps of Anneka Manning's shortcrust recipe or simply use storebought. Preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan-forced) and in a lined tart dish or baking pan, lay the shortcrust pastry followed by baking paper and pie weights/uncooked rice. Bake for 10-15 mins, then carefully remove the paper and weights/rice and cook the pastry for 5 mins more. Ensure the pastry has completely cooled.

• This recipe calls on roasted nuts, but you can use raw if you'd prefer. You can also keep these whole or roughly chop them. I've roughly chopped them for this recipe.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.