Ingredients

Shortcrust:

250 gr of flour - soft pastry is the obvious choice, or spelt works well

150 gr of frozen butter grated

1/2 an egg, slightly whisked

2 pinches of salt

1 tbsp of sugar

cold water

Filling:

100 gr of raisins

50 gr of glaced cherries

2 tbsp of Kirsch, Brandy or Rum

250 gr of marzipan

150 gr of blanched and powdered almonds

100 gr of icing sugar

25 gr of caster sugar

1 egg

Custard:

150 ml of whipping cream

1 egg

Method

Raisins and cherries:

The night before, mix raisins and cherries with the Kirsch (or any other spirit of choice) in a little bowl and leave overnight at room temperature to infuse, covered in clingfilm.

Shortcrust:

Sieve flour on clean surface, or in a bowl, and add cold grated butter - i have very warm hands and using frozen butter grated on a cheese grater helps tremendously with preparing a good shortcrust. Rub the flour and butter until you have a crumbly mix, then add salt, egg and sugar, mix, and add just enough water to make a slightly lumpy pastry. Roll into a ball and leave overnight in fridge, wrapped in clingfilm. Keeps for a few days at 4°C.

Remove from fridge, rest for 30 minutes at room temperature, then roll out to fit a 22-24cm pie or tart dish. Cover with baking paper and dried beans or beads and bake for 15 minutes at 180°C, then remove the paper and beans and bake for another 8 minutes (times depending on your oven).

Please note: the shortcrust shell will shrink a lot if it's rolled out very thinly - it works best with about .5 to 1cm, and it shouldn't be too shallow, otherwise it won't be big enough for the filling.

Filling:

Roll out marzipan to a round shape to fit the shortcrust shell, about 3mm and cover the bottom of the prebaked and cooled shell. Mix the almond powder, icing and caster sugar and the egg in a bowl, then cover the marzipan layer with the almond mix. Sprinkle the infused fruit over the almond mix. Whisk the egg, stir it into the cream and carefully pour the custard over the almond and fruit mix.

Bake at 150°C until the custard has set and the surface turns slightly brown.

Serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

This recipe is from: 'Rezepte, die das Leben schrieb' by Michael Merz (sadly I can't take the credits for this...)

Notes:

I also add a drop or two of almond essence to the filling - optional.

Time allowing, I make my own almond powder - it's easy with a kitchen machine. I pour boiling water over almonds, let them sit for a few mintues, then transfer to cold water and peel them (the skin usually comes off easily). I then gently dry and roast the almonds at low temperature (80°C) in the oven for about half an hour turning them regularly. For this type of pastry, the almonds should still be white to slightly brown when finished to bring out the subtle flavours of the almond that make the marzipan.

For this tart, I also make the marzipan myself, or actually almond paste, following this recipe:

https://www.simplysogood.com/2013/07/my-favorite-almond-paste.html?m=1