Pecan nuts and Maple Syrup Tart: honey in the kitchen

Creamy and crumbly on the mouth, pecan nuts and maple syrup tart

As our vacation approaches hubby gets excited even more everyday like a kid. Before I met him I never really see the importance of the word "vacation". Probably because I grew up in a tropical country where everyday is set in vacation ambiance: sun, sand, beaches and coconut trees :-) Infact, I never imagined that French people can be obsessed (? I am not sure if it's the right word) on the number of weeks of vacations they can have. Considering the fact they are only working 35 hours a week, no Sunday work (even for the service industry) plus a total of six weeks of vacation in a year. Without counting the days they are on strike (which happens very often) as this is their favorite sport way far before tour de France or football :-) (oops just kidding). He always tells me its his hard earned reward for working diligently.

Anyways, as we were pulling our luggages stocked on the top of our closet we couldn’t helped but chat about the last vacation we had in Canada. We were so much engulfed by our conversation that we decided to stop what we were doing and look instead at our photo album. We spend the entire afternoon talking about all our happy memories, funny anecdotes and delicious food tripping in Canada. That day we decided to bake the sweetest memory left of this vacation, maple syrup tart.

Our complice in this sweet adventure

Pecan nuts and Maple Syrup Tart
for the pastry:
250 g of flour
100 g of butter
½ tsp of salt
3 tbsps of water

for the garniture :
500 ml of maple syrup
400 ml heavy fresh cream
2 tbsps of cornflour
½ tsp of vanilla extract
30 g of pecan nuts

Start by preparing the dough. In a bowl mix with your hands the butter cut in small cubes. Add salt and the water little by little. work on the dough until it becomes smooth. Form a ball and keep it covered and let it stand for an hour. While waiting for the dough, In a casserole mix the maple syrup and heavy cream and let it boil. Add the cornflour by diluting it in a tablespoon of water before adding up in the maple syrup-cream mixture. Simmer over low fire for 15 minutes until the mxiture thickens. Add the vanila extract and turn off the fire. Cook the dough first at 180° celsius for ten minutes. Then add the pecan nuts and pour over the syrup mixture. Cook slowly for 40 minutes

For my French readers, the french version of this delicieuse recette is here: http://www.lesfoodies.com/news/recette/tarte-au-sucre-derable-et-noix-pecan