Recipe: Almond Apricot Buckle

Almond Apricot Buckle for 4

Vegetable oil spray (I used grapeseed oil spray)

1/4 cup ground almonds/almond meal/almond flour

3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/4 Cup raw turbinado sugar

1/4 Cup dark brown sugar

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

1 pound apricots, halved, pitted (I think a number of fruits would go well with this - plums, apricots, peaches, pears, apples...)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray cake pan with nonstick spray. (I used mini tart pans and very lightly sprayed them. Bon Appetit* recommends lining the bottom of the cake pan, if you're using that, with a parchment paper round.)

Mix ground almonds, flour, baking powder, and salt.

Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until fluffy. Add sugars; beat until well blended. Add egg, beating well. Beat in vanilla and almond extracts, then flour mixture until just incorporated. Transfer batter to prepared pan or mini tart pans; spread evenly. Gently press apricot halves, flesh side down, into batter (1 apricot half per mini tart pan if you're making mini buckles).

Bake until tester inserted into center comes out clean (about 50 minutes in one cake pan; the mini tarts took about 20 minutes, I think). Cool on rack. Remove from pan (or pans) when cool.

*Adapted from almond-plum buckle recipe in Bon Appetit, July 2006.