I always wanted to taste a Frangipane Tart. I’d read about them but never tried one. All I knew was that the filling is made from finely ground almonds and is used in pies, cakes, and pastries. It does sound very similar to, if not the same as, the filling in a pithivier which I absolutely love! Frangipane tarts often have some fruit, like raspberries, added to the filling.
Anyway, I needed a dessert to take to dinner at my sister, Helen’s house and I remembered that my Mini Pies cookbook had a recipe for frangipane tarts that I had bookmarked to try someday, so I decided today would be as good a day as any. I do own an electric pie maker (the book was written for use with an electric pie maker) but opted not to use it. Instead, I made little tartlets in a mini-muffin pan and was able to get 24 tartlets out of the recipe.
FRANGIPANE TARTLETS (ALMOND TARTLETS)
- 1 box ready-made refrigerated pie dough
- 1 cup sliced almonds, toasted
- ½ cup sugar
- 5 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 large egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp. almond extract, optional
- confectioners’ sugar for dusting on top of tartlets
- fresh raspberries and/or extra sliced almonds for garnish, optional
- Cut out 2½-inch circles of pie dough or size needed to line your mini-muffin pans.
- Press dough circles into wells of each of the muffin cups. A tart tamper makes this easy to do.
- In a food processor, combine toasted almonds and sugar.
- Process until mixture is finely ground.
- Add the butter, egg, egg yolk, vanilla, and almond extract, if using.
- Process until well-blended and smooth.
- Fill each crust two-thirds full with the filling mixture.
- Bake at 350ºF for 12 minutes or until filling is puffed and slightly cracked.
- Allow to cool completely, then dust with confectioners’ sugar.
- You could decorate the tops of the tartlets with fresh raspberries or additional almond slices, if desired.
NOTE: If you want, you can make one large tart. Just fit the crust into a 9-inch fluted tart pan. Place in the freezer and freeze for 20 minutes. Remove crust from freezer, line with parchment paper and fill with pie weights or beans. Bake crust at 350ºF for 20-22 minutes. Remove pie weights and fill pre-baked crust with filling mixture. Bake an additional 35-40 minutes or until top is set.
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