Maple spiced pumpkin tart with pecan toffee
Pumpkin pie is a favourite in the States but we don’t see it much here in New Zealand. I hope to change this with this amazing pumpkin tart recipe.
Ingredients
Pastry
- 1 cup plain flour
- 70 g ground almonds
- ⅓ cup caster sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 tablespoons cold water
- 30 g butter melted
Filling
- 3 free-range eggs
- 1 cup cream
- 1 teaspoon mixed spice
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg grated
- ¼ cup maple syrup plus extra to serve
- ¼ teaspoon brown sugar
- 2 cups cold pumpkin mashed, cooked
Toffee and garnish
- ¾ cup sugar
- ¼ cup water
- ½ cup pecans roughly chopped
- seasonal berries or other fruit to garnish
Instructions
- In a food processor pulse the flour, ground almonds, sugar and cinnamon to combine. Mix egg yolk with the water and melted butter and add to the flour mixture. Pulse until combined and starting to clump together. Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and gently knead into a soft ball. Wrap in plastic food wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes.
- Lightly grease a 24cm loose-bottomed tart tin or similar. Roll out pastry to a disc about 26cm in diameter. Drape over rolling pin, transfer to tin and gently line with pastry. Trim the edges neatly and chill for 15 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 180°C. Whisk the eggs, cream, spice, nutmeg, maple syrup and brown sugar together. Stir in the mashed pumpkin, mixing until well combined.
- Pour mixture into pastry case and bake for 30-40 minutes until the pastry is golden and the filling has puffed and set. Allow to cool a little before slicing.
- To make the toffee, very lightly oil a foil-lined tray. Heat the sugar and water in a small pan over medium heat without stirring (you can swirl the pan a few times, but don’t use a spoon) for about 8-10 minutes until golden. Add the pecans when the mixture is pale then let the mixture bubble and turn a deep golden colour. Carefully pour into the tray and leave to cool and harden. Break into shards and lightly crush some of it to make praline.
- Garnish tart with seasonal berries, toffee shards and praline. Add a swirl of maple syrup and serve.
Notes
If you’ve never tried pumpkin in a dessert, you’ve got to give this tart a go. With sweet pumpkin, warming spices and indulgent maple syrup, it tastes like autumn on a plate. Serve this pumpkin tart with seasonal berries or other fruit, toffee shards and pecan praline for a beautiful dessert that’s just a little bit fancy.
This recipe makes a spectacular dessert when entertaining. To make it extra special, serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.