plum frangipane tart

When I'm feeling stressed out, baking always seems to make me feel better. So today, when I was especially about to hit the panic button, only a multi-step dessert, one with room for creative improvisation, would do. It's like I need to create something complicated to remind myself that I am a capable adult. Hence, this plum frangipane tart.

I used Alice Waters' recipes (from "Chez Panisse Fruit") for pate sucree tart dough and frangipane pastry cream as starting points and I improvised from there. I went with plums for the filling because I found some especially good ones, and I made a reduction of port and fig preserves and used that as a glaze. I think this might be the best tart I've ever made. The flavors go really well together, and the crust is a bit like a sugar cookie. (In fact, I think I might try using this recipe as such.)

I should have put just a little more filling in, though. I have a tendency to get a bit overexuberant when I'm assembling a tart (I have the same problem with pizzas) and wind up with either mushy, overloaded crust or a burnt, drippy mess in the oven. This time I overcorrected. I thought the plums would have given off more liquid.

Still, though, not bad. And I feel much calmer now.