Yesterday night I was watching Rick Stein's program...
the one where he travelled through the South of France from West to East on a barge, stopping and sampling local dishes like cassoulet, salade de chevre chaud or gratin dauphinois. During that program, he made a Pithivier, an almond cream pie encased in puff pastry. He added fresh cherries to his which I have never tried but sounded like a nice idea.
It reminded me how much I love almond cream. It's called "frangipanne" in French. It's a brilliant base for a fruit tart or indeed for the traditional Galette des Rois we eat on January 6th.
Or to make stuffed almond croissants... I used to buy those all the time, they are SO yummy. I might try to make my own this week end actually, humm..never thought of it, why, why, WHY?. I have even got ready rolled, frozen pur butter croissants in the freezer.  I buy them at a great farm shop, not far from us, in Climping. I go there once a month/couple of months with the kids, and get supplies to keep the freezer happy for a while: frozen croissants and pains au chocolat you just pop in the oven on Sunday morning for a perfect French breakfast, frozen berries to add to yoghurts, jellies or ice cream. They have also got a huge selection of seeds, grains and pusles you can buy without the bulky packaging of the supermarket version!. All lined up in easy to use dispensers from oatmeal to basmati rice, sesame seeds to chick peas and much much more. They stock a litle bit of fresh fish, really nice fresh breads and excellent beef and of course sausages....although I personally stay loyal to John Cooper for those since I haven't tasted any better ones sicne I discovered him down the road from us.
Anyway, have a look at what they've got in store for yourself:)
Back to the matter of frangipanne...Apart from  its use in lovely almond croissants, it's worth trying it as a base for a tart. Last week I made a classic pear and frangipanne tart to take to my friend for lunch: Make or buy a shortcrust pastry. Blind bake it covered with foil for 5 minutes in a medium hot oven (190) then remove the foil and bake for a further 3 to 5 minutes. You don't want the pastry to colour, just cook. Remove from the oven and leave to cool. In the meantime, make your frangipanne: beat together 200g soft unsalted butter with 200g of caster sugar, add 2 eggs, 200g of ground almonds and 50g of flour. Mix well and pour in 1 tablespoon of dark rhum, it makes all the difference. Pour the almond cream on the pastry, top with peeled and quartered fresh pears (or canned pears in juice). Bake for 30 to 35 minutes at 180 degres. Leave to cool and finish the tart by painting the top with 2 tablespoon of  warmeed apricot jam mixed with 1 tablespoon of water to give it a glossy look. Enjoy cold with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  I did wanted to take a picture of mine....forgot and now it's all gone!