GOLDEN NUT AND CARAMEL TART

This one of my all-time favourites: it looks good, takes 20 minutes to make and provides heavenly pleasures for the palate, if you like very sweet stuff, of course. I found the original recipe in “gazeta kuchnia,” but already tried out many version with different types of nuts and dried fruit. Once I soaked nuts, raisins and apricots in vodka and that version has become legendary with my family…

***recipe for the golden tart***

tart:

200 g of flour
10 dag of butter
3 spoons of water
1/2 spoon of salt
1 egg (optional)

The pastry is more crumbly if you do not add the egg, but I usually throw one in.nut and caramel filling:

15 dag of sugar
14 dag of double cream (30% or 36%, both work well)
10 dag of shelled wallnuts
golden flakes

These flakes are made from real gold and are available from art supply shops (in Warsaw you will find one in Mazowiecka Street). There are some fake alternatives, but they are not edible, in contrast to the real gold which you freely eat. I got the poisonous version so far and have not yet decided to buy the real stuff.

You can prepare the dough from condensed sweetened milk that comes in cans. All you need to do is boil it for 3 hours. It tastes quite good, actually.

First we need to make the tart:

Mix and knead flour, butter, salt, water and egg (if you want to add it). That is basically it, for this is one of the most basic pastries, though open for modifications. You can skip the water or egg and balance salt with sugar. Once the dough is ready and smooth, form a ball out of it, wrap in foil and put in the fridge. You can always make some more and freeze it in for some occasion like unexpected guests or an unexpected surge of laziness. Cool the ball in the fridge for 15 minutes, but if it takes longer, do not worry.

Now we need to prepare the caramel filling:

Put the sugar in the saucepan and heat until it melts. You have to stir it all the time so as not to burn it. The sugar should become brown and melt, becoming lovely liquid caramel. At this point, add cream, but do it carefully, for it will foam and fly, all kinds of bizzarre things taking place in the saucepan, but only for a short time. Nevertheless, keep stirring. It may take a while for the sugar to mix with the cream. There is no need to worry – in the end you will have a nice and tasty caramel filling. Let it cool down and add cushed nuts.

In the meanitme take out the tart, roll it out so that it is half a centimeter thick and put it in the greased baking tin. Bake for ca. 15 minutes in 180° C.

The baking time can vary and you should always check whether it is nicely browned. Yesterday it took me even 25 minutes, but maybe the temperature was a bit too low. Do not forget to pierce the tart with a fork prior to baking so as not to allow any bubbles to come out. One more thing you can do is cover it with foil and put some beans on top. In this way, the sides of the tart will not sink.

This is basically everything. If you have the golden flakes and some time on your hands you can decorate the tart with them.