Kona Macadamia-caramel Torte

Total Time: 2 hrs Preparation Time: 1 hr Cook Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• Servings: 16
• 2 1/2 cups roasted salted macadamia nuts
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 cup butter or 1 cup margarine, cut in chunks
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1 large egg , beaten until frothy

Recipe

• 1 reserve 3 or 4 whole nuts for garnish. rub remaining macadamias in a towel to remove excess salt; lift nuts from towel and set aside.
• 2 with your fingers or a food processor, mix or whirl flour, 1/2 cup sugar, and butter until mixture is fine crumbs. add egg and mix with a fork or whirl until dough holds together; pat into a ball.
• 3 press 2/3 of the pastry over the bottom and sides of a 1 1/2-inch-deep, 9-inch-wide round cake pan with removable rim. cover and chill. roll remaining pastry between 2 sheets of waxed paper into a 9-inch-wide round. chill flat.
• 4 meanwhile, pour remaining 2 cups sugar into a 10- to 12-inch nonstick frying pan. set over medium-high heat and stir often until sugar melts and turns pale amber, about 7 minutes.
• 5 pour in cream (mixture will bubble up) and remove from heat. stir until sauce is smooth, about 5 minutes. stir in nuts (except those reserved for garnish). let nut mixture cool 10 to 20 minutes, then pour into pastry shell.
• 6 peel 1 sheet of waxed paper from pastry round and invert pastry onto nut-filled torte. peel off remaining paper. fold edges of top pastry in until flush with pan rim. press pastry rim with the flour-dipped tines of a fork to seal. brush top of torte lightly with beaten egg .
• 7 bake in a 325° oven until deep golden brown, about 1 hour.
• 8 cool in pan on a rack 10 to 20 minutes. run a thin knife between pastry and pan rim. remove rim and let torte cool.
• 9 garnish with reserved macadamia nuts. cut into thin wedges.