Ingredients
- 2 oz apricot or any other soft or stone fruit
- 3 oz sugar
- 2 oz plain flour
- 2 oz ground almonds
- a pinch of salt
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 tbsp Amaretto or brandy
- 4 oz milk
- a handful of flaked almonds
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter a baking dish or (ideally) an ovenproof cast-iron pot/pan about 10 inches across. Halve and pit the apricots and pack them closely into the bottom of the pan, curved side up, with half the sugar. Put into the oven for 5-ish minutes so that they start to soften.
Mix the rest of the sugar with the flour, almonds and salt. Beat the eggs with the vanilla, booze and milk, then pour gradually into the dry ingredients, stirring all the time, to make a thin batter. When the apricots come out of the oven, give them a little shuffle and pour in the batter.
Cook for about 25-30 minutes, scattering on the flaked almonds halfway through, until the batter is puffed up, golden and caramelizing a bit around the edge.
Tuck in straight away, with ice cream, cream or crème fraîche.
*You must taste your fruit--for the end result it doesn’t matter if the apricots are under-ripe, but if they are you’ll need more sugar than this.
