Almond Frangipane Mini Tarts

Oct 14

Oct 14 Almond Frangipane Mini Tarts

Buttery shortcrust pastry filled with luscious almond frangipane and topped with even more sliced almonds. Simple ingredients but really big on flavor. I first made these from leftover ingredients from the Cooks Illustrated Poached Pear and Almond Tart recipe that I made last month, but decided that they were so good they deserved their own page.

I made these in a 12-well mini tart pan. It’s great, because I didn’t need to grease the pan first and the tarts released perfect (this is also because of the quantity of butter already in the tart dough. Also, at this size, there’s no need to blind bake the crust making the whole process much simpler. A mini muffin pan might also work (you won’t get those pretty edges though), but I haven’t tried it.

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Almond Frangipane Mini Tarts Recipe:

Yield:
12 mini tarts

Difficulty:
Easy

Ingredients:

Sweet tart dough (pâté sucrée):

213 grams (1½ cups) all purpose flour
85 grams (3/4 cup) confectioners / powdered sugar
⅛ tsp fine salt
1 large egg yolk (you’ll use the white for the frangipane, so save it!)
2 TBSP heavy cream
½ tsp vanilla extract
10 TBSP (142 grams) unsalted butter, diced, very cold (I like to put the diced butter in the freezer while I prep the other ingredients, about 10 minutes)

Almond frangipane:

113 grams almond flour
100 grams (½ cup) granulated sugar
⅛ tsp table salt
1 large egg
1 large egg white
½ tsp almond extract
½ tsp vanilla extract
6 TBSP (85 grams) unsalted butter, cubed, room temperature

Topping:

½ cup sliced almonds
Powdered sugar for dusting (optional)

Instructions:

Make the dough:

Whisk flour, sugar, and salt together. In a separate bowl, lightly beat egg yolk, heavy cream, and vanilla together. Add egg mixture to the flour mixture and stir with a fork until combined. Scatter butter pieces over flour mixture and toss with a fork to coat the butter pieces, then cut the butter pieces into the flour until the mixture resembles course meal. Gather into a rough ball, and turn out onto a work surface. Knead a few times until smooth. Pat into a disk, wrap tightly in plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Do ahead: The tart dough can be made up to two days ahead of time stored in the refrigerator, or up to a month wrapped well in the freezer. (I place foil tightly around the plastic wrap when freezing.)

Make the frangipane:

If using a food processor: Add almond flour, sugar, and salt to a processor and pulse a few times to combine. Add egg, egg white, both extracts and process until combined. Scatter butter over top and process until smooth.

If making by hand / mixer / electric beaters: Whisk together flour, sugar and salt in a medium bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer. In a separate bowl, beat egg, egg white and extracts together, then add to flour mixture and beat until well blended. Scatter butter over top and stir vigorously or beat until very smooth.

Do ahead: Refrigerate if not using right away up to three days. Let soften to room temperature before using.

Assemble and bake:

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Roll out dough to around 1/8 inch thickness. A little thicker is okay. Cut out 12 pieces and press into the wells of the muffin tin. Refrigerate the dough lined pan for 30 minutes to firm up. Place a heaping tablespoon of frangipane into each well. The filling won’t go all the way up to the top but will expand when baked. Top with sliced almonds and bake for 20-25 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the bake, until the top feels firm when gently pressed and the sides of the tart have slightly pulled away from the edges of the pan.

Tip: Check after 18 minutes, if the crust is already looking dark golden, place a piece of foil across the top to prevent them from getting too dark.

Let cool in the pan on a cooling rack for 10 minutes before tipping out of the pan. They should come right out. I turned mine out into a clean, dry dishtowel for cushioning, and then placed them back on cooling rack. Dust with powdered sugar if desired. Can be eaten warm or at room temperature.