Maid of Honour tart (Almond Tart Bake-off)

When I saw the September Avid Baker's Challenge for almond tarts, I remembered this similar recipe and decided to do a bake-off taste test.  The original recipe yields 12 tarts, but doesn't specify what size.  I reduced the recipe by 1/6, assuming I would get two tarts.

Not having a proper mini tart pan, I used a 4.25" pie tin.  I quickly realized this was far too large.  For one, I had to roll the pastry paper thin to get something that would fit in the tin.  That didn't seem right.  And then I saw that not only would a single teaspoon of jam barely wet the bottom, but the filling I'd made certainly wouldn't cover it.  I decided to make a single tart, but I still had to add more jam to give a respectable layer, and barely had enough almond filling to spread across it.  I suspect the tarts should have been made in something more the size of a standard muffin tin (which would explain the yield of the original recipe), or even a tassie tin.  The photo in the original recipe shows tarts with a substantial depth, although they looked at least 3" across.  I still don't think a teaspoon of jam would produce that thick of a layer in anything larger than a tassie, if that.  Of course the difference in size would also affect baking time, and hence the texture.

In the recipe for the almond tart challenge, I described the kitchen tools I use for these small batch exercises.  That would explain the odd measuring sizes below.

Here's what I used:

Pastry
225g 37.5g (1/3 cup) plain flour
135g 1½ tablespoons butter
2 tsp 1/3 teaspoon icing sugar
1 whole 3g egg yolk beaten with 1 tsp scant 1/2 teaspoon cold water

Filling
50g ½  tablespoon unsalted butter
75g 1 tablespoon caster sugar
1 dash spoon + 1 smidgen spoon heaping teaspoon self raising flour
pinch of baking powder
2 whole 6g (scant 1/2 teaspoon) beaten egg yolk
100g 16.7g (3 1/3 tablespoons) ground almonds
zest of 1 1/3 lemon
1 tbs ½ teaspoon cream
6 1 teaspoon damson jam
Icing sugar for dusting

Put all the pastry ingredients in a food processor and pulse until a dough is formed.  Wrap in cling film and set aside for 30 minutes.  Preheat oven to 400F.  Roll out pastry and cut 12 circles with a pastry cutter, large enough to fit the bottom of your tin and up to 1" up the sides.  Place a circle of pastry into the tin and gently press down and against the sides.

For the filling, cream the butter and sugar together thoroughly.  Stir into this the flour and beaten egg yolk. Stir and then add the almonds, lemon rind and finally the cream.  Add a teaspoon of jam into each little tart and then a spoonful of filling.  Divide any leftover filling between the tarts.  With the back of a teaspoon gently smooth over the filling so that no jam is showing.  Bake for 20 minutes; remove from the oven and leave in the tart tin to cool.  (If you try to remove them when they are still hot the pastry, which is very fragile, will start to crumble and break.  As they cool the pastry firms up.)  Dust with icing sugar and serve with a dollop of vanilla ice cream.  Store in an airtight tin.

Conclusion:  These were very good -- the lemon contrasted nicely with the mild plum jam, and the almond filling rounded it all out.  They weren't particularly unique tasting, though. Conventional flavors, surprisingly.

Recipe:  Maids of Honour via Maria Dernikos, using a recipe by Clarissa Dickson Wright.

September ABC challenge: Almond Tart and Bake-off

This promises to be an amazing dessert.  It just needs... something.  I'm not sure what that is, yet. But I'm happy to keep working on it.  Meanwhile, I made this as part of an almond tart bake-off, the other recipe being a Maid of Honour tart.

I didn't want to be trapped in the house with 6 of these things (“Danger, Will Robinson!”), so I reduced the recipe to create only one, and within that reduced the total sugar by 1 tablespoon.  It worked nicely.  Making these small batches, it helps to have a variety of miniature kitchen tools.  I mixed everything for this in a mini, 1-cup food processor.  The measuring spoons I used are tiny; the largest, the dash, is about equal to 1/4 teaspoon, or 16 drops of water. The pinch spoon equals 10 drops, and the smidgen spoon 6.  A mini whisk and mini spatula complete the collection.  I was, however, missing the mini tart pan.  What I used instead was really a 4.5-inch ceramic pie pan.  The tart wouldn't release from it, but I thought it worked well anyway, though it was a little deep for the filling.

The instructions call for "spreading" the filling.  My filling was so liquid, it would have evened out on its own.  I thought it must be too thin, so added another 2 teaspoons of almond flour to thicken it up just to the point that I would have to lightly spread it out in the crust.  (It's so easy to get the measurements off when reducing to such small proportions.)  I probably shouldn't have, as the final product was just a wee bit dry.

Here's what I used:

Crust
1/2 cup 3 teaspoons sugar (reduced from 4 teaspoons)
1/2 cup 4 teaspoons soft butter
1/4 teaspoon smidgen spoon salt
1 1/6 teaspoon vanilla extract (equals dash spoon + smidgen spoon)
1/2 1/12 teaspoon almond extract (equals pinch spoon)
1½ 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup 2 tablespoons almond flour or finely ground sliced or slivered almonds

Filling
1/4 cup 2 teaspoons soft butter
1/4 teaspoon smidgen spoon salt
1 cup 2 tablespoons sugar (reduced from 2 2/3 tablespoons)
2 tablespoons 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
1 1/6 teaspoon almond extract (equals dash spoon + smidgen spoon)
1 1/6 teaspoon vanilla extract (equals dash spoon + smidgen spoon)
3 large eggs ½ egg, about 30g
1 1/4 cups 3 1/3 tablespoons almond flour

Glaze
1 cup glazing sugar or confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons milk
raspberries, for garnish
1 ounce bittersweet chocolate
about 1 teaspoon heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 350°F.  To make the crust, beat together the sugar, butter, salt, and extracts.  Add the flours, stirring to make crumbs that cling together when squeezed.  Press the crumbs into the bottom and up the sides of six 4 1/2" mini tart pans (or a full-size tart pan; see tips, at left); prick them all over with a fork.  Freeze the crusts for 15 minutes, then bake them until they're just beginning to brown on the edges, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool while you make the filling.

To make the filling, beat together the butter, salt, sugar, flour, and extracts.  Beat in the egg, then add the almond flour, stirring just to combine. Spread the filling into the crust.  Bake the tart for 18 to 24 minutes, until the top is lightly browned. Remove from the oven and cool in the pan.

To make the glaze, gently heat the chocolate and cream together until melted and stir thoroughly.  (Adjust cream quantity until chocolate is of a dribbling consistency.)  Spoon into a plastic bag, cut off the tip, and squeeze decoratively onto tart.


Conclusion:  Delicious.  I liked this very much.  It was a little intense; but I wouldn't add ice cream, or even  whipped cream, as I think the delicate almond flavor would be lost.   Maybe a little vanilla custard would do.  A little more chocolate would have been nice, too.

Recipe:  Almond tarts via King Arthur Flour