A sophisticated torte that looks like something you’d find at a gourmet bakery, this one can actually be made at home.

The inspiration

I am always looking for inspiration when it comes to cooking creatively; I especially love it when friends send me an impromptu text sharing a photo of what they’ve made. That’s how I came across this easy and delicious Italian hazelnut apricot torte.

You see I had just sent my friend Rose a text with a photo of a Spanish almond cake I had made (from her recipe) when she in return sent me a photo of her freshly baked hazelnut apricot torte.  

The back story

Here is a little background on how Rose came upon this Italian torte. She and her husband Dave celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary a couple of years back and went to Italy to The Sirenusas.

The Sirenusas are a group of little islands off the Amalfi Coast of Italy between Capri and Positano. Here they took cooking lessons as part of their vacation.

Authentic Italian recipes from the countryside

After their return I invited Rose and Dave over for dinner to share some of the recipes they learnt, if you are interested here are a few recipes straight from Dave and Rose’s Italian holiday. Italian inspired dinner with friends Tiramisu  Fresh homemade pasta  Caramelized Shallots and Spinach homemade ravioli.

A recipe in Italian

At one of the Inns they stayed at the chef made a hazelnut torte for dessert. Rose liked it so much that she asked the waiter if the chef wouldn’t mind sharing his recipe. The chef happily obliged but wrote the recipe in Italian 😀.  So Rose had a friend translate it and made the torte back home.

Her text to me read “I just made another torte similar to the almond cake  – this time with hazelnut and apricot with a sweet crust – got the recipe from Le Sirenuse when we stayed there a couple of years ago. The recipe from the chef was in Italian so I had a friend’s friend translate the original recipe – 🤗.”   

When Rose shared the recipe I noticed the ingredients for the crust were very heavy on butter, I checked with Rose and found out that Rose actually used a recipe for the crust from geniuskitchen which uses less butter  Italian sweet pastry dough from Geniuskitchen.   When I made my torte however I went the easy route and used a frozen store-bought pastry dough which worked out great.

Delicious made with all natural ingredients

So delicious and made with all-natural ingredients like chopped hazelnuts, butter, eggs, flour, and apricot jam, this torte is the easiest to make with the most gourmet of results.  

Straight from The Sirenusas, Italy here is a recipe for a delectable hazelnut apricot torte. Give it a try!

Hazelnut Apricot Torte
recipe contributed by Rose from The Serensus, Italy

Ingredients:

• Pastry dough. You can make it or do what did which is purchased store bought pie dough
• 1 cup hazelnuts finely chopped or made into a crusty meal in a mini food processor.
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/2 cup finely chopped dried apricots
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup butter softened
• 1/4 cup apricot jam plus more for spreading on the tart
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 eggs

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 F. In a tart pan (I used a 10 inch tart pan) gently press the pastry dough all over the bottom of the pan all the way to the edge of the pan and up the sides.  Bake the crust for 10 minutes. Take out of oven and spread apricot jam on the bottom of pie crust. Set aside while making the filling.

• First mix the sugar, butter, jam, vanilla, and eggs.

• In another bowl combine flour, hazelnuts, and dried apricots.

• Combine the hazelnut flour mixture with the egg mixture.

• Pour the filing into the tart pan. Place the tart pan on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake in a 350 F degree oven for 30 minutes.

• After 30 minutes the tart is ready.  Take out of oven and cool for 20  minutes before removing from the pan.

• Dust with powdered sugar before serving.

• Soft inside with the lovely flavors of apricots and the nutty texture of hazelnuts, this is a delicious tart perfect with a good cup of coffee.

Happy Saturday Everyone!