Almond Tart
Pastry:
150g organic spelt flour
80g butter (diced)
30g sugar
50 - 60 ml of water to combine
Almond filling:
100g butter
70g light muscovado sugar
100g organic ground almonds
70g light muscovado sugar
1 large egg
50g flaked almonds
1 x 6” tin (or 3 x 4” tins)
Serves 4-6
Method:
Heat the oven to 180°.
To make the pastry, I use a mixer but it can easily done by hand too. Place the flour, butter and sugar in a mixer and pulse until it looks like fine bread crumbs. If you are doing this by hand, rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips. Add the water, a little at a time, and keep mixing until it is incorporated. You want the pastry to come together into a ball, but not too sticky. Wrap in grease proof and place in fridge for 10 minutes.
For the almond mix, toast the ground almonds in the oven for 10-15 minutes until lightly golden.
Beat the butter and sugar together in a bowl. I use a hand-held electric whisk or my static mixer. You want the butter mixture to be soft and creamy.
Stir in the toasted ground almonds and whisk in the egg. Place in the fridge.
Take the pastry out of the fridge. It should now be firm and cool and easy to roll out. Roll out the pastry to the thickness of fresh pasta and line the tin. Leave a lip around the top to allow for the pastry to shrink slightly.
Line the pastry with greaseproof paper and cover with a handful of rice or pulses, to give it some weight as you ‘blind’ bake the pastry case. Place on a baking tray and cook for 15 minutes until golden.
Once the pastry is cool, add the almond mixture spread out to the edges, and sprinkle over the flaked almonds. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden.
Tip:
For the baking, I use fluted moulds with loose bottoms which are ideal. You will have excess pastry, so roll into a ball and store in the freezer for another tart.