Simple, Elegant Almond Tart

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Now, I don’t know about you, but I have a bit of an obsession with the Great British Baking Show and all the spin-offs that have come after it.  Not only do I love it, but the husband is totally into it as well, making each new season a must watch in our house.

I can’t stand the wait between seasons.

So I've taken to watching and re-watching the Masterclasses that Paul and Mary do.  They explain in detail how to recreate the bakes from the shows and it inspires me every time.

Then they made this almond tart...

When I first saw Mary put together this almond tart recipe, I didn't think I could recreate it.  It was just too pretty, and besides, I’m normally a chocolate dessert kinda girl. But the husband said it looked really good, so I thought I would give it a shot.

And this almond tart was GREAT!

This is one of those desserts that you can lean into time and time again.  It’s great for brunch, it’s great for a dinner party, it can easily be made non-dairy and everyone who has tried it loves it.  

And bonus, it's beautiful (which I can’t say for most of my desserts)

I mean, it's really pretty, don't you think? Glossy from the egg wash, fancy from the design, and I promise you it was simple. I think one of these days I’m going to go through and try to recreate all of the bakes from one season...I just don't think they are all gonna be so easy! Which season would you chose?

Tips and Tricks:

• Working with puff pastry can be tricky, but you’ve got this.  Don’t bother making it from scratch for this recipe. Keep it simple, use the frozen kind.  I use this one and since it comes with two sheets of pastry in the pack you just need the one box.
• Defrost the sheets of pastry on the counter while you prep the rest of the ingredients so they are still cold when you need to use them.  If you defrost them earlier, cover with plastic wrap and leave in fridge until needed.
• Want to make this non-dairy?  You can substitute margarine, or earth balance, or other non-dairy baking sticks.  I would not use coconut oil as a substitute here.
• I buy my nuts for this recipe at Trader Joes.  They have both ground and sliced almonds on the shelf ready to go.  When I have time I will grind my own nuts in the Vitamix dry container.

Ingredients

• 2 sheets puff pastry (I use Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Sheets)
• 1 stick unsalted butter
• ½ cup granulated Sugar
• 2 eggs + 1 yolk (1 egg + 1 yolk for filling, 1 egg for finishing)
• 1 cup ground almonds
• ½ cup sliced almonds
• 1 ½ teaspoon almond extract
  

Tools Needed:

• Rolling Pin
• Parchment Paper
• Mixer
• Sharp knife

Directions

• Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper.  
• Lightly flour your counter or work surface.  
• Roll out the puff pastry to the thickness of a nickel or a bit thinner.
• Use a 9’ round cake pan or pie plate to cut out a circle of puff pastry.
• Repeat with second sheet of puff pastry.  
• Place one round on the baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap, put the other round on top and cover again.
• Put both of these sheets back into the refrigerator to keep chilled while you make the filling.  
• With a mixer, beat the butter until light and creamy then add the sugar and cream again until light and fluffy.
• Add one egg and one egg yolk to the mixture in 3 additions beating well in between.
• Mixture should stay light and fluffy.
• Gently mix in the ground almonds, sliced almonds and almond extract by hand
• Chill this mixture for at least 20 minutes

To Assemble

• Lay one round of puff pastry on your parchment paper.
• Mound the filling in the middle of this round piece of puff pastry leaving a ¾" border.
• Beat 1 egg to use as a wash, sealer, pretty maker
• Brush some of this egg around the border to use as a glue for top piece
• Place second piece of puff pastry on top of the first piece and filling and press down all along the edge to make sure it is sealed.
• Preheat oven to 425
• Now, you can leave the tart like this put a steam hole in the middle and bake without decoration or you can make it really pretty.
• If not decorating: brush with egg wash, chill in fridge about 20 minutes then, brush with egg wash again and bake 25-30 minutes.

If decorating: Here are the directions I like to follow straight from Mary's recipe

for the edges: Holding a small knife blade at right angles to the side of the pastry, ‘knock up’ the edge all around by making small indentations in the pastry. Then scallop the edge by pulling the indentations in at 2cm intervals with the back of the knife. Brush the top of the pastry very lightly with beaten egg to glaze and chill for 20 minutes

for the top decoration: Brush the top a second time with the beaten egg glaze, then score a pattern with the tip of a sharp knife. Make a couple of small steam holes in the center.

Mary's Galette, from pbs.org

Then bake at 425 degrees from 25-30 minutes until lightly browned and just crispy on top.