My mother’s rule has always been, make the recipe as written the first time, then improvise from there. You get a sense of what the recipe’s author meant the dish to be and can adjust it to your own taste, if necessary, another time. It’s a good practice and one which helps me avoid recreating the flavours I already know I like.
Sometimes, though, the ingredients that are on hand take precedence over the recipe. When I made the Apple-Almond tart for this week’s post, I wanted to use up some ground almond that I’d had for a little too long. There was also some Greek yogurt in the fridge, so I didn’t go to the store for heavy cream. The resulting tart filling wasn’t exactly an almond cream, but it was awfully good.
It was thicker and a little less puffy than almond cream would have been, but it complemented the butter-soaked phyllo and tart apples very well. I sliced this up into small pieces, froze some and then sent most of the rest off with my parents on their yearly weekend away with several other couples. It was a hit, I hear. It certainly was at home, too.
Next time, I’ll follow the recipe more closely and use almond flour and heavy cream, but I’m happy to know that this tart is amenable to a little improvisation.
You can find many other blogged descriptions of this week’s FFWD recipe here: Crispy-Crackly Apple-Almond Tart
One Wet Foot 
Sounds scrumptious … and I admire your ability to improvise and create variations on recipes!
Teresa, your and your mother´s motto sounds good and I think you are quite right about first getting the sense for what the author of the recipe had in mind when creating it. Having said that, the few substitutions that you made sound like they were more than successful and your Apple-Almond Tart looks lovely and delicious with rows of shiny sliced apples. Wonderful!
Have a great weekend!
I think the yoghurt cream would have been a lovely, healtgier version. Looks great!
I think ground almonds work just fine. It certainly looks a lot more caramelized than mine, and that´s a plus! Lovely tart Teresa!
Although I backed out from making the almond cream and assembled a couple of tartes fines, I will definitely try the Greek yogurt version in the future. We always have some on hand!
The top photo, with the glistening apples, is gorgeous.
This recipe took very well to improvisation.
I am sure it was well enjoyed by all 🙂
I tend to agree with your mother, but like you, I also sometimes succumb to the realities of my refrigerator. You improvisation sounds delicious.
I have found, though, that sometimes our instincts work best when cooking & baking. I think we’ve all had to adjust some of the ingredients from time-to-time to suit our own tastes and the seasons where we live. It sounds like your improvisation worked well here, and I’ll bet the tang of the Greek yogurt added to the overall flavor of your tart.
Your tart looks wonderful, Teresa. I love the dark color of your yogurt almond cream. It sounds like it would taste so good. I also used what I had on hand with the honey instead of going to the store to get apple jelly or apricot jam. It feels good to use what we have on hand.
Lovely tart, your photos are wonderful. You did a great job improvising with yogurt and the
ground almonds. Great job.
Sometimes I wish I could be more creative and improvise – using up the ingredients that are in my cupboard and fridge. I am determined to do better at that. I think it was quite smart and certainly practical to substitute into this pastry your greek yogurt and almonds. Although it will taste different, probably, it may not be any better when you make it next time according to Dorie. It looked delicious.
Lovely looking tart, Teresa! It has such a nice rich color! I think you were quite creative and the the proof is in the results!
I think that the best recipes lend themselves to improvisation. Your tangy yogurt cream sounds like a great alternative, nice to offset the sweet apples. Glad to hear your parents and friends enjoyed it. Have a wonderful week.
Sounds good with that Greek yogurt in place of the cream. Looks gorgeous too!