Raspberry & Pistachio Frangipane Tart with Whipped Pistachio Ganache
Talk about a showstopper: this stunning tart features layers of rich pistachio frangipane studded with fresh raspberries, raspberry jam, and swirls of luscious whipped pistachio and white chocolate ganache.
Yield: one 9 or 10-inch tart (8-10 servings)
Prep Time: 2 hourshours
Cook Time: 1 hourhour
Total Time: 12 hourshours
Ingredients
For Ganache:
3.5oz/ 100ggood quality white chocolate, finely chopped
1 ¼ cups/ 300gheavy cream, divided
¼cup/ 70gpistachio cream* or smooth pistachio butter
For Crust:
1 ½cups/ 187gall-purpose flour
¼cup/ 24pistachio flour or finely ground pistachios
¼cup/ 30powdered sugar
¼teaspoonfine sea salt
½cup/ 113g(1 stick) unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
1largeegg yolk
2-3tablespoonsice water, as needed
For Filling:
½cup/ 113g(1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½cup/ 100ggranulated sugar
1 ½cups/ 150gpistachio flour or finely ground pistachios, or a mix of pistachio and almond flours
2tablespoons/ 15gall-purpose flour
¼teaspoonfine sea salt
2largeeggs, at room temperature
½teaspoonpistachio extract*, or use 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
6tablespoons/ 130graspberry jam, use 7-8 tablespoons if making a 10-inch tart.
6oz/ 170gfresh raspberries, divided
Instructions
If you are starting with whole pistachios rather than pistachio flour, start by grinding the 150 grams of pistachios for the filling with the 2 tablespoons of all purpose flour until finely ground. Dump into a bowl and set aside; you'll use this for the filling. Then, add 24 grams of pistachios with 2 tablespoons of flour and pulse to finely chop; this smaller amount will be used for the crust. (This way there's no need to wash the food processor more than once!)
For Ganache:
Place chopped chocolate in a mixing bowl.
Heat 1/2 cup of the heavy cream in a small saucepan. DO NOT heat all of the cream; the rest of it needs to be cold or at least cool, or it may not whip up properly.
When the cream starts to steam and just barely bubble around the edges (do not let it fully boil), pour over chopped white chocolate. Let sit for 30 seconds, then gently whisk in concentric circles until chocolate is fully melted and smooth.
Add pistachio cream and whisk to combine (you can also use an immersion blender for the smoothest ganache). Finally, mix in remaining 3/4 cup of cold heavy cream. Press a layer of plastic wrap onto the surface of the ganache, then cover and refrigerate until completely chilled, 6-8 hours or ideally overnight.
For Crust:
In the bowl of a food processor combine flour and pistachio flour (or if you've just chopped the smaller quantity of pistachios with some flour, add the rest of the flour) along with powdered sugar, and salt and pulse a few times until evenly mixed.
Sprinkle cubes of cold butter over top of flour, then pulse a couple of times until there are no chunks of butter larger than a lentil (we're not making pie crust here).
Add egg yolk and 2 tablespoons of ice water, then pulse a few more times until evenly moistened. Pinch a bit of the dough between your fingers; if it sticks together, it's done. If it's still crumbly, add more ice water, 1 teaspoon at a time, until dough starts to clump together.
Dump contents of food processor onto a piece of plastic wrap and gather up the dough, kneading once or twice until it comes together. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. If chilling longer, let it come to room temperature for 10 minutes or so before rolling.
On a lightly floured surface, roll chilled tart dough out to 1/4-inch thick (tart crusts are thinner than standard pie crusts). This recipe makes enough dough for a slightly larger tart if necessary, so you'll want to roll it to a 14 to 15-inch circle regardless of what size tart pan you're using.
Carefully transfer the rolled dough to a 9 or 10-inch tart pan with removeable bottom. Ease the dough into the corners, trying not to stretch it. Run the rolling pin over the top of the tart pan to trim the dough to the edge. The scraps can be re-rolled and refrigerated for another use, or feel free to cut them into pieces to bake into bite size cookies to snack on while you bake!
Refrigerate shaped crust for at least 30 minutes or freeze for at least 20 minutes until hard. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375 degrees F while the crust chills.
Remove the crust from the fridge and place on a cookie sheet. Poke the bottom a handful of times with a fork. Crumple up a piece of parchment paper and line the inside of the chilled crust; fill with pie weights, dried beans, or I like to use granulated sugar.
Bake for 16-18 minutes or until you start to see light browning around the top rim. Remove from oven and carefully lift out parchment and weights, then return to the oven to bake for an additional 8 to 10 minutes to dry it out; if it starts to get too brown around the edges, you can cover the rim with foil as needed. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool while you make the filling.
For Filling:
Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F.
Combine pistachio flour (or a mix of almond and pistachio flours) in a bowl along with flour and salt, whisking until evenly incorporated. If you already combined these together in the food processor to chop the pistachios, just add the salt.
In a mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, a solid 3 to 5 minutes.
Add one egg, increasing the mixer speed as needed until fully incorporated, followed by half of pistachio flour mixture, mixing until just incorporated. Repeat with the second egg and remaining pistachio flour, scraping down the sides of the bowl at least once. Mix in pistachio extract.
Spread raspberry jam in a thin layer in bottom of cooled tart crust.
Then, add the pistachio frangipane mixture on top. I find it easiest to pipe this on top of the jam rather than spreading it.
Press about 5 ounces of the raspberries evenly over the top of the frangipane, reserving a few berries to decorate the finished tart.
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until pistachio filling is puffed, no longer wiggly, and starting to brown around the edges. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool completely. You can decorate and serve this right away, it'll also keep covered in the refrigerator overnight if necessary.
Final assembly/decoration:
To whip the ganache, remove plastic wrap from surface of chilled ganache. With an electric mixer, beat until ganache thickens and just barely holds soft peaks. This will happen much faster than whipped cream, so keep a close eye on it as soon as it begins to thicken and hold tracks. Do not overmix or the ganache will be too thick and grainy.
Transfer whipped ganache to a piping bag and pipe decoratively onto the fully cooled tart; you can also just spread it in rustic swoops instead of piping if you prefer. Top with more fresh raspberries and chopped pistachios as desired before slicing and serving.
Tart is best served the same day, but will keep in the refrigerator for a couple of days if necessary (it's hard to cover because of the soft ganache, but if you have a round tupperware that would fit it, that would work great).
Notes
Pistachio cream is a smooth, sweetened spread (like a pistachio Nutella). You can use pistachio butter, though it will make for a more rustic looking ganache with a speckled appearance.
I used LorAnn super strength pistachio flavor; 1/4 teaspoon would be enough, or 1/2 teaspoon if you want a more intense pistachio flavor. Other brands of pistachio extract might need a higher quantity. Alternatively, substitute with 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and 1/4 teaspoon almond extract.