Sweet Dreams Are Made of This
Once again, I was awakened by a dream about food. This one, though, was even more specific than the one for Bistecca con Crema di Porcini. This dream was about a dessert and included all the parts of the recipe — the crust, the fruit layer, the custard. Again, I opened up my iPad, squinted at the bright light, and typed in a few notes.
When it came time to make the actual recipe, I realized my dream had made a few mistakes. First, it had me baking saffron into the crust. Awake and thinking clearly, I adjusted the recipe and moved the saffron to the filling. Had I left the saffron in the crust, all the flavor would have cooked out.
The other part of the dream was that was off was the filling itself. I dreamt it was a custard but, in reality, I wanted something silkier. I decided a small batch of heavenly-scented panna cotta would be just perfect. And you know what? It was!
I made these Apricot Saffron Rose Tarts as a special dessert for my friend Jennifer’s birthday. We all loved them —and they even felt light after a big meal. They are a bit more work than many of the desserts you see here on Cocoa & Lavender, but they are worth it!
~ David
Apricot Saffron Rose Tarts
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup flour
- 1/3 cup confectioners sugar
- 1/3 cup shelled unsalted pistachios, plus a few for garnish
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 egg yolk
- cold water
- 1 egg white
- 1/2 cup apricot jam
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon powdered gelatin
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- .15 gram powdered saffron, or 1/2 teaspoon threads pulverized
- 1/2 teaspoon rosewater
Instructions
- PASTRY: Grease and flour four 4-inch tart pans. (Baking spray is acceptable.)
- Place flour, confectioners sugar, and pistachio nut meats into the bowl of a food processor and process until nuts are finely ground, like sand. Cut butter into 16 pieces and add to the processor; pulse 10 times.
- Place the egg yolk in a 1/4-cup measure, break it up with a fork, and add ice water to fill the measure. Add the water and egg yolk to the food processor and pulse 10 to 12 long pulses, or until dough comes together. The dough will be very sticky. Wrap the dough in plastic or wax paper and chill for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Divide chilled dough into four pieces, and place one piece in each tart pan. Flour your fingers, if necessary, and press the dough evenly into the mold, across the bottom and up the sides. For uniform thickness, you can flatten the bottoms with a glass dipped in flour.
- Chill for 10 minutes. Line each tart pan with foil, and place on a baking sheet. Fill each shell with pie weights or dried beans, and bake for 10 minutes; remove the foil and weights and bake an additional 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and immediately brush bottoms and sides of the hot shells with egg white and let cool.
- APRICOT LAYER: Purée the apricot jam or press through a strainer. Divide the jam among the four cooled tart shells, and spread evenly. Chill.
- PANNA COTTA: Put the milk in a small saucepan; sprinkle the gelatin on top and let it sit for 5 minutes. Turn the heat to medium and cook while stirring until the gelatin dissolves. Do not let the milk boil.
- Add the cream and sugar to the saucepan and continue cooking while stirring for 3-5 minutes.
- Once the sugar is dissolved, turn off the heat. Stir in the saffron and rosewater and set aside to cool a bit.
- ASSEMBLY: When the flavored cream mixture has cooled somewhat (about 30 minutes, stirring from time to time), spoon evenly into the tart shells (about 1/4 cup each) over the apricot jam. Return to the refrigerator to cool fully (3 hours or more). There will be some leftover cream mixture; put it in a ramekin for a future treat and chill, as well.
- Bring the tarts to room temperature about 15-30 minutes before serving. Garnish with pistachios. (I happened to have a little gold leaf on hand for my pistachios… optional!)
- Serve 4.
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Mad Dog
February 18, 2023 at 5:19 amHow lovely and it looks amazing on that square plate!
I was dreaming about cooking beef last night …I think relative to a Basque dish I intend to cook this week.
Cocoa & Lavender
February 25, 2023 at 11:16 amGlad I’m not the only one who dreams in Culinary land, Mad Dog!
Lisa Harper
February 18, 2023 at 6:28 amYou have amazing dreams. Mine are not so tasty. I will try tp make this when fully awake.
Cocoa & Lavender
February 25, 2023 at 11:16 amMaybe I’ll have some incredible dreams in Morocco!
Frank | Memorie di Angelina
February 18, 2023 at 8:20 amFunnily enough, seeing as how food is such a big part of my waking life, I never dream about food. Weird, right? But if I can easily see why you’d dream about this! Sound gorgeous.
Cocoa & Lavender
February 25, 2023 at 11:15 amI actually don’t know too many people, even those who are food, obsessed, like us, who dream about food like I do. I just want more dreams like this!
Jill W Becker
February 18, 2023 at 10:38 amOh so beautiful. A perfect birthday dessert.
Margery Saunders
February 18, 2023 at 2:52 pmSome questions from a novice: So does the foil line the individual tart pans, so that you have to lift out the partially baked shells & then put them back in the pan to finish baking? And we should use roasted but not salted nuts?
Margery
February 18, 2023 at 2:57 pmNever mind, I read it again & see that the foil goes on top of the dough…. I will be trying this with mango.
Cocoa & Lavender
February 25, 2023 at 11:14 amMango will be a great switch in this recipe! Let me know how it works.
Cocoa & Lavender
February 25, 2023 at 11:15 amI see that you saw the info about the foil, but I do use unsalted roasted nuts for this recipe. I think the salted nuts would add too much of a conflict with the sweet, delicate flavors.
Eha
February 18, 2023 at 3:05 pmMethinks this may be called perfection on a plate . . . perchance I may not try and copy but would be happy to hang the photo on my dining-room wall . . .
Cocoa & Lavender
February 25, 2023 at 11:14 amThat is quite a wonderful compliment, Eha!
Ronit
February 18, 2023 at 9:08 pmPerfection!
I would enjoy each layer on its own, let alone all together.
Love the addition of saffron here. 🙂
Cocoa & Lavender
February 25, 2023 at 11:13 amThanks, Ronit. Saffron is one of our favorite flavors in this household.
Sherry M
February 18, 2023 at 11:34 pmi love the flavours here. all that saffron and rosewater and pistachios and apricot jam! lovely. i just can’t do gelatine at all. Calves feet! Even agar agar etc… it’s the texture i can’t take :=) I remember a flatmate years ago made a sweet with agar agar, and you could bounce it off the walls!! I never dream of food…
Cocoa & Lavender
February 25, 2023 at 11:13 amI’m sorry if I offended you using gelatin! I know it’s a difficult thing for many people. I also know quite a few people (my sister-in-law included) who don’t like the texture.
Pauline McNee
February 19, 2023 at 3:13 amDavid your tarts look absolutely perfect and beautifully presented on those plates. I would be very happy to just make the panna cotta without the pastry as a treat, the flavours sound so lovely, very Middle Eastern flavours aren’t they?. Lots of potential there. thanks for the inspiration. I go to bed thinking about food, and occasionally dream about it, but don’t actually dream up recipes. There’s still time for that, hee hee.
Cocoa & Lavender
February 25, 2023 at 11:12 amPauline, I was thinking the same exact thing about the panna cotta. I think it’ll be lovely on its own! And maybe with a tiny skim of apricot jam underneath. Yes, they are Middle Eastern flavors, which are some of my favorites. I know that you also liked those flavors, as well.
Chef Mimi
February 19, 2023 at 7:31 amThis is just so beautiful. So delicate. Wonderful flavors!
Cocoa & Lavender
February 25, 2023 at 11:11 amThanks, Mimi! The flavors work so beautifully together.
Jeff the Chef
February 19, 2023 at 8:37 amWhat an amazing dream! And look what it led to! And man, you have some really amazing plates!
Cocoa & Lavender
February 25, 2023 at 11:11 amI do have a couple of really nice plates, Jeff. Thanks for noticing! Now, I just need more dreams to get me more fun recipes.
2pots2cook
February 21, 2023 at 6:14 amPerfect flavours to surprise your friend! It seems you love Eurythmics, don’t you?
Cocoa & Lavender
February 25, 2023 at 11:10 amI did love grooving to that song back in the day, Davorka! The Eurythmics were quite the group!
Ben | Havocinthekitchen
February 21, 2023 at 5:22 pmOh my goodness, this is such a luscious and stunning tart. Terrific flavours too; I’m especially excited about the pistachios and rose notes. I wish my dreams were that productive! Lol
Cocoa & Lavender
February 25, 2023 at 11:09 amCombination of all the flavors does pretty spectacular, Ben. But the pistachio crust is one of my favorites!
Raymund
February 26, 2023 at 2:26 pmI can totally relate to your food dreams! Sometimes the most interesting and creative ideas come to us in our sleep, and it’s always exciting to try them out in the kitchen. The Apricot Saffron Rose Tarts sound absolutely delicious, and I love the combination of flavors you used. I agree that panna cotta was a great choice for the filling to give it that silky texture. It’s amazing how much attention to detail you have when it comes to your recipes, even down to adjusting the recipe based on your dream. I’m sure your friend Jennifer was thrilled to have such a special dessert for her birthday.
Cocoa & Lavender
March 2, 2023 at 2:45 pmThanks for the kind and thoughtful comment, Raymund! It was fun having this appear inmy dream – only to correct myself when awake!
The-FoodTrotter
March 3, 2023 at 1:55 amThese recipe seems to be taken directly from a Medieval Italy cooking book! The overload of expensive spices was a symbol of wealth and this beautiful combination of saffron, rose water and apricot sounds delightful!
Cocoa & Lavender
March 4, 2023 at 7:30 amThat is a great point, Romain — it does sound rather Medieval/Renaissance…. Actually, the combination of saffron and rose is inspired by my Spanish Baroque Hot Chocolate (which also contains cinnamon, vanilla, and chile de arból). The apricot and pistachio combination just sounded good!
Valentina
March 5, 2023 at 6:58 pmDavid, you must write a cookbook titled “Delicious Dreams” or “The Flavor of my Dreams.” Okay, maybe not the latter. Ha! I’ll keep working on it — and you keep dreaming.
This dessert is so beautiful. The color is amazing and it’s so perfectly smooth on top. And of course the flavor combination is delicious! 🙂 ~Valentina
Cocoa & Lavender
March 17, 2023 at 12:10 pmHa ha! I’ll need a few more dreams to get to Cookbook status…
Inger
March 6, 2023 at 10:21 pmMy oldest loves rosewater–this would definitely be her thing!
Cocoa & Lavender
March 17, 2023 at 12:06 pmSome people find it too much like soap or lotion, but I’d like a little bit certain dishes.