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Arrange a rack in the middle of the oven with a baking stone on it, if you have one.
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Preheat the oven to 350.
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(If you make the shell or the apricot filling a day or hours ahead of time, turn on the oven before you assemble the tartbe sure to leave extra time for the baking stone to heat up.)
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Roll and press the dough into the mold to form the tart shell, as detailed in the box on page 403.
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If youre doing this ahead of time, refrigerate the tart shell so it is easier to handle and fill.
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Put the dried apricots in a small, preferably narrow saucepan with the 2/3 cup water.
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Cover, and bring to a boil; reduce the heat to maintain a steady simmer.
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Cook, covered, until the apricots are soft (but not mushy) and only 2 or 3 tablespoons of poaching liquid are left in the pan, about 20 minutes.
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If the water evaporates before the apricots have softened, add more water and continue cooking slowly.
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Let the apricots cool in the pan with the syrupy liquid.
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To make the apricot filling, put the cooled poached apricots and syrup in a food processor and pulse in short burstsabout 4 seconds in allto chop the apricots into a thick paste of very small bits.
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Dont puree: the paste should be chunky.
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Scrape the apricots into a bowl, stir in 6 tablespoons of the apricot jam, and blend well.
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(Refrigerate filling if prepared ahead.)
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Make the macaroon base for the pignolata when you are ready to assemble the tart and bake.
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Crumble the almond paste into the food processor, and add the sugar.
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Process about 30 seconds, scraping down the workbowl if necessary, so the ingredients are completely blended, with the consistency of moist sand.
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Pour the egg whites into the machine, and process for another 30 seconds, scraping as needed, until the macaroon is a smooth white slush.
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(If you havent heated your oven and baking stone yet, do it now.)
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Plop the remaining 2 tablespoons of apricot jam on the bare bottom of the tart shell, and spread it to cover the bottom dough thinly.
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Spoon the apricot filling into the tart, and spread it in an even layerit should fill almost two-thirds of your dough shell.
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If you like, drizzle the 2 tablespoons of sweetened condensed milk all over the apricot layer: dont bother to spread it, just streak the entire surface.
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(This adds a subtly different kind of sweetness that you should try sometime, but the tart is excellent without it.)
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Scrape the macaroon slush in blobs all over the top of the tart.
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Spread it with a big spoon or spatula moistened with water (but not dripping).
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It will be sticky, but with a little patience you can push it into a smooth, flat layer that comes right to the sides of the dough shell and covers the apricot layer (but not the dough rim) completely.
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To finish the pignolata, sprinkle the pine nuts, just a few at a time, on top of the macaroon.
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Take your time: you want to make a single layer of pine nuts, so dense that you cant see the macaroon at all.
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Drop the pignoli to cover small sections, and then fill in empty spots.
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Let them rest where you drop themdont push them into the macaroon or across the top.
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Do not cover the rim of the dough.
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When the tart is assembled, set the mold onto the hot baking stone.
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If youre not using a stone, you can move and bake the tart on a baking sheet.
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Bake for about an hour (or longer without a stone), until the pignolata and the outside tart crust are beautifully browned but not blackened.
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Rotate the tart on the stone (or the rack) for even baking.
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The pine nuts should brown gradually: if theyre dark within the first 30 minutes of baking, cover them with foil and lower the oven temperature if necessary; if theyre not taking on color at all in the first 1/2 hour, raise the oven temperature.
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Let the baked tart cool completely on a wire rackthis can take several hours.
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If using a tart ring with a removable bottom, separate the ring from the tart.
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If you want, slide the tart from the round metal mold bottom onto a platteruse long metal spatulas to support the tart, if you have any.
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Serve the tart at room temperature.
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You can top with unsweetened whipped cream, or just sprinkle with powdered sugar.
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It is such a deliciously rich tart that you dont want to give big portions (people can always have seconds).
