Almond Shortbread Tart

on July 29, 2011 by Chanteuse Designs Recipe Leave a comment

Almond Tart

I love entertaining my friends. I love anything with almonds, well practically. So, when my dear friend, whom I have missed for months, recently came for a visit I knew exactly what I wanted to make. This flew around the web awhile back, but I didn’t have the right opportunity to make it until now. So glad I did too. It was delicious, EASY…..(love that word) and a make ahead dessert.

Here’s all you do:

Almond Shortbread Tart

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

8 ounces almond paste

½ cup sliced almonds

1 egg

2 tablespoons water

Preheat oven to 325º. Butter a 9″inch round tart pan with a removable bottom.

In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Then add the flour and salt and mix until just combined. Divide the dough into two even pieces and wrap each in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for one hour. (I might leave this in overnight next time) Then take out and let cool. (As you can see by my photos below – this was taken right out of the fridge and it will fall apart like dry play dough!)

After dough has cooled, remove it from the fridge and place half the dough into the bottom of the tart pan. Press it down until it covers the bottom of the pan evenly and comes up the sides a little bit.

Roll out the almond paste with a rolling pin into a flat disk about 8″ round and place it on top of the bottom half of the dough. (OK as you can see below this didn’t exactly cut the mustard and I ended up piecing them down-no biggy as you know it will all melt together when baked. So don’t spend the time trying to roll it out into a perfect disk. Not worth the time. imho)

Then, place the remaining dough on top of the almond paste and pat it down until it covers all of the almond paste and crimp the sides together to seal. Brush the egg wash lightly (I didn’t do this lightly and loved the result ;-) on top and scatter sliced almonds over it. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until top is lightly golden and the edges are crispy and pulled away from the sides a little. Allow to cool to room temperature and remove tart from the pan. Dust with confectioners’ sugar and serve.

This has been a very big hit with my friends!! VERY big. I loved it, but I kept getting a salty taste with the first bite, and it seemed like I could cut this back to maybe a 1/2 teaspoon of salt. You let me know, will you?

Bon Appétit!