This is one of those recipes that I return to intermittently. Some time since 2015, I left this recipe by the wayside, published it in 2017 but somehow, it just fell out of rotation over the years until now. It's not the easiest recipe to do, but on the bright side, once your apartment fills up with the heady fragrance of almond tart caramelising in the oven, it's hard to resist.
Tart Ingredients
115g (1/2 cup) butter, chilled, cut into little pieces
2) Add almond extract, vanilla extract and cold water.
3) Scoop out the dough onto a large piece of cling wrap. Gather the dough into a ball and flatten slightly. Wrap well and chill thoroughly in the fridge/freezer, for at least an hour.
4) When ready, unwrap dough and press into the tart mold. (Reserve a small amount of dough to patch up the tart if cracks form after baking.) Press dough evenly over bottom and sides of pan, about 1/8-inch thick. Try to get the dough relatively flat on the bottom, and push it evenly up the sides with your thumbs. Because the wall of the tart can soften during baking and pool at the corner of the pie, I like to make a shallower groove along the corners of the mold, so it ends up more even. Prick shell lightly all over with a fork and return to the fridge for about 1 hour. The colder the dough, the less the wall will melt down as it bakes! Dough may be refrigerated 8 hours or frozen.
6) When ready, bake tart shell at 190C until shell begins to brown along the edges, about 10-15 minutes. Because tart pans usually leave no clear spaces to have a good hold with oven mittens, I bake my tart in a big tray so it's easy to bring it in and out of the oven.
7) Remove tart shell from oven. Patch any holes in shell by smoothing small bits of reserved dough over tears. (You don't have to bake it again after patching; the heat from the pie just-out-of-the-oven would do the trick. If you didn't save a small bit of dough, you can make a thick slurry of flour and water, and use it to patch the cracks.)
8) While the tart is baking, make the filling by combining whipping cream, sugar, salt in a large saucepan. Bring to full rolling boil over medium-heat; it will bubble thickly and foam up. At this point, keep it over the stove and continue boiling for 5 more minutes. Then remove from flame, and add Grand Marnier, kirsch, almond extract and almonds . Set to steep for about 15 minutes. Once the tart shell is ready, remove from oven and pour the filling in.
9) In the oven set to 180C, bake the tart on the center rack for 12 to 15 minutes.
- Rotate tart frequently during last 15 minutes of baking so top is even deep golden brown (when the filling is the color of coffee with a light touch of cream in it and there are no large pockets of gooey white filling). Overcooking the filling will cause it to seize up and turn grainy.
10) Remove tart to cake rack and let cool to room temperature before cutting. The tart is best on the day itself, though it can keep for about 2-3 days in an air tight container.
Chez Panisse Almond Tart Recipe
Adapted from the LA Times
Original recipe by Lindsey Shere, co-owner and pastry chef of Chez Panisse
Makes one 8-inch tart, or 2x 4.5-inch tart.
Tart Ingredients
115g (1/2 cup) butter, chilled, cut into little pieces
140g (1 cup) flour
1 tablespoon sugar
3 to 4 drops almond extract
3 to 4 drops vanilla extract
1 tablespoon cold water
Almond Filling Ingredients
250g (1 cup) heavy cream
1 tablespoon sugar
3 to 4 drops almond extract
3 to 4 drops vanilla extract
1 tablespoon cold water
Almond Filling Ingredients
250g (1 cup) heavy cream
150g (3/4 cup) granulated sugar
Pinch of salt
1 tablespoon Grand Marnier or Ameretto
1 tablespoon kirsch (optional)
2 drops almond extract (optional)
80g almonds, each chopped roughly into halves
Steps
1) Mix flour and sugar, and using your fingertips, rub butter into the dry ingredients, until just incorporated. If working in a hot environment, it is helpful to chill the flour-sugar mixture (along with the utensils) in the fridge before combining with the butter. Alternatively, this step can be done using a food processor
1 tablespoon Grand Marnier or Ameretto
1 tablespoon kirsch (optional)
2 drops almond extract (optional)
80g almonds, each chopped roughly into halves
Steps
1) Mix flour and sugar, and using your fingertips, rub butter into the dry ingredients, until just incorporated. If working in a hot environment, it is helpful to chill the flour-sugar mixture (along with the utensils) in the fridge before combining with the butter. Alternatively, this step can be done using a food processor
2) Add almond extract, vanilla extract and cold water.
3) Scoop out the dough onto a large piece of cling wrap. Gather the dough into a ball and flatten slightly. Wrap well and chill thoroughly in the fridge/freezer, for at least an hour.
4) When ready, unwrap dough and press into the tart mold. (Reserve a small amount of dough to patch up the tart if cracks form after baking.) Press dough evenly over bottom and sides of pan, about 1/8-inch thick. Try to get the dough relatively flat on the bottom, and push it evenly up the sides with your thumbs. Because the wall of the tart can soften during baking and pool at the corner of the pie, I like to make a shallower groove along the corners of the mold, so it ends up more even. Prick shell lightly all over with a fork and return to the fridge for about 1 hour. The colder the dough, the less the wall will melt down as it bakes! Dough may be refrigerated 8 hours or frozen.
6) When ready, bake tart shell at 190C until shell begins to brown along the edges, about 10-15 minutes. Because tart pans usually leave no clear spaces to have a good hold with oven mittens, I bake my tart in a big tray so it's easy to bring it in and out of the oven.
8) While the tart is baking, make the filling by combining whipping cream, sugar, salt in a large saucepan. Bring to full rolling boil over medium-heat; it will bubble thickly and foam up. At this point, keep it over the stove and continue boiling for 5 more minutes. Then remove from flame, and add Grand Marnier, kirsch, almond extract and almonds . Set to steep for about 15 minutes. Once the tart shell is ready, remove from oven and pour the filling in.
9) In the oven set to 180C, bake the tart on the center rack for 12 to 15 minutes.
- Using a wooden spatula, gently break up any hardening surfaces of the filling that developing a hard exterior. Being more vigilant at the start, and then being less so as the caramel forms.
- Because the filling can bubble and overflow before it caramelises, setting the tart mold in a baking tray prevents making a huge mess in the oven. Sometimes, when the edges of the pies may also brown too fast, and I will wrap a piece of aluminium foil around the sides so it doesn't burn before the pie filling caramelises.
10) Remove tart to cake rack and let cool to room temperature before cutting. The tart is best on the day itself, though it can keep for about 2-3 days in an air tight container.
VARIATIONS: Other nuts, such as macadamia or pecans, can be used. I was using pecan in the video above, which tasted pretty decadent. Depending on the size of the nuts, you may use more or less nuts than specified (I squeezed in about 120g whole pecans)
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