ABC - Almond Tarts

I love almonds. Blanched, unblanched, roasted, spicy, plain, salted, it doesn't matter. The fact that I'm allergic to most other nuts probably also plays a role in that affinity. This month's ABC baking project is uber almond-y: Almond Tarts from King Arthur Flour. The recipe uses almonds in the crust, and almonds in the filling. It looked fairly straightforward and you didn't have to buy special ingredients like almond paste. If you don't have almond meal/flour, you could certainly make your own by grinding up almonds in a spice grinder (which I find does a better job than a food processor, although it takes longer because you can only do one small batch at a time).

One large Almond Tart. Yum!

If you'd like to join the ABC bakers in their monthly baking adventures, please go to the ABC blog for more information.


I didn't make many changes this time. In an effort to use "healthy" ingredients, I added 1 Tbsp of golden flax seeds (measured then ground) to the crust. They blended right in. The other change is subbing almond oil for the almond extract. Because almond oil is concentrated, I only used 3 drops in the crust, and 3 drops in the filling.

The press-in crust is super simple. No rolling required. I used my metal measuring cup to press the crust onto the sides and bottom of my tart pan. After a quick chill in the freezer, it was ready to bake.

Ready to chill in the freezer before baking.

I gave mine a couple minutes extra in the oven because it didn't brown much.

For a little change, I spread some imported German Blackberry Fruit Spread (which I strained). It's sweet and tart which is the perfect back drop for the sweet almond filling.

Strain and slather the jam!

The filling was a breeze to make. When I poured it in the crust, it looked it was going to fit...

Ready for its second oven trip.

The recipe says to bake the 9" tart a little longer: 35 - 40 minutes. I forgot to read that part, so I looked at the baking time for the mini tarts which said 18 - 24 minutes. So after 18 minutes, I checked on it. Still soupy. Then 6 minutes later, still soupy. I gave it another 10-12 minutes at which point it was perfect! No more soupiness and no more jiggling in the middle.

Oooh, look at that delicious golden brown color.

A little powdered sugar on top is all it needed!

The perfect slice. Bon appetit!

Final thoughts/tips:

• This tart was such a huge success. The buttery flavor of the crust and its sandy texture, with the creamy (almost custard-y almond filling) and the thin layer of the sweet and tart fruit spread, were perfect together.
• Hubby loved it. One minor criticism he had (and I did too), was that it was a tad too sweet. I will reduce the sugar amount next time (by about 20-25%).
• I shared this with a few friends who all raved about it. My favorite comment so far was: "sinfully delicious" :o)
• This is definitely something I'll be making again. When I run out of almond meal, I will likely try this with homemade almond meal and hope the results are as good, if not better.
• The recipe can be found HERE.
• Please check out comments of the other ABC bakers.