Honey Pine Nut Tart

I have been lusting over the picture of this recipe for years in the Happy Days With The Naked Chef cookbook and finally decided to try it out. I used a pan that was smaller than recommended and thus ended up with a deeper, less chewy tart than I was hoping for. What I imagined when looking at the picture was something similar to the consistency of a panforte but this was much more cake-like. Still delicious. Just try it out with the larger tart pan.

For the Filling
9 oz pine nuts
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons butter
1 cup minus 1 tablespoon sugar
3 large eggs
4 tablespoons good honey
3/4 cup flour
a pinch of salt

For the Pastry
1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup powdered sugar a pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups flour
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons cold milk

Cream together the butter, sugar and salt then rub in the flour and egg yolks. When the mixture has come together, looking like coarse bread crumbs, add the milk. Gently pat together to form a small ball of dough. Wrap and leave to rest for an hour.

Carefully cut thick slices of your pastry (or you can roll it out) and place in and around the bottom and sides of a 12 inch tart pan. Push the pastry together and level out and tidy up the sides. Cover and leave to rest in the freezer for about 1 hour. Preheat your oven to 350ºF and bake the pastry for around 15 minutes until lightly golden. Reduce the oven temperature to 325ºF.

While the pastry is in the oven, toast the pine nuts under the broiler (how do you do this? I toasted them first). Whip the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in your pine nuts, add the eggs one at a time and then fold in the honey, flour and salt. Spoon into the tart shell and bake for 30-35 minutes. Best served at room temperature.