While I was visiting my friend Katherine at her parents' lake home in Michigan earlier this month, we made a Mazarintarta (Mazarin Torte) to serve for dessert after dinner one night (we also made the main course: a tomato confit tart). I love almonds, and so I knew I would love this Swedish almond tart. I did, so much so that I made the tart again after I returned home from my trip (Katherine thoughtfully provided me with a copy of the recipe before I left).
The recipe we were using instructs you to make the tart dough by hand: sift together 1 and 1/3 cup flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, and 1/3 cup sugar onto a table, add in 1/2 cup butter and 1 egg, and mix to make a smooth dough. At home, I made the crust in the food processor and it only took a few seconds. At the lake, Katherine and I cut the butter into the dry ingredients with forks before mixing in the egg, so the process was a little more time consuming. Also, we didn't have any baking powder at the lake house (and the closest store was 19 miles away), so we just skipped it. Suprisingly, the lack of baking powder didn't have any discernible negative impact on the crust or overall tart outcome.
Katherine had warned me that even though the recipe instructs you to chill the dough and then roll it out to fit the bottom and sides of a springform pan, the dough is always too sticky to roll and so she just presses it into the pan. She also told me that she prefers the crust to be as thin as possible. Thus, even though the recipe is intended to make one 9-inch tart, Katherine and I used one batch of dough to make two 9-inch tart crusts (and I did the same at home), pressing the dough into the pans as thinly as possible.
You spread a thin layer of raspberry jam over the unbaked tart crust, and then spoon the almond filling (made by creaming together 1/2 cup butter and 2/3 cups sugar, and then adding 1 cup ground almonds, 1/2 teaspoon almond extract, and 2 eggs) over the jam. You bake the tart at 350 for about 50 minutes.
The recipe instructs you to spread more raspberry jam on top of the tart after it has cooled, and then drizzle on an icing made by mixing together 1 cup powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, and 1 teaspoon water. Katherine told me that she usually leaves out the extra jam on top, so we skipped it at the lake. We didn't have any powdered sugar on hand at the lake house either (and our effort to make our own by putting granulated sugar in the blender failed), so we also skipped the glaze. When I made the tart again at home, I again skipped the extra raspberry jam on top (I didn't think the tart needed it, as you already get a nice dose of raspberry flavor from the layer of jam between the almond filling and the crust), and I made one tart with the powdered sugar glaze and one without. Having now tasted the tart with the glaze, I think it's gratuitous and might actually detract from the almond flavor of the filling.
I love this tart. The moist almond filling has a wonderful chewy texture. I prefer the tart straight out of the fridge, as the filling seems to soften a bit and lose some of its chewiness after sitting out at room temperature. I'm grateful for Katherine's advice on making the crust as thin as possible; the crisp, buttery crust is a nice pairing for the filling, and the overall flavor combination with the raspberry jam is perfectly harmonious. This unadorned monochromatic tart might not look like much, but there is definitely more to it than meets the eye! And for me personally, this tart will always bring back the special memory of an idyllic weekend with a dear friend in an amazing place of natural splendor.
Previous Post: "How Do You Say Bland in Swedish?: Syltkakor," August 18, 2011.
The recipe we were using instructs you to make the tart dough by hand: sift together 1 and 1/3 cup flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, and 1/3 cup sugar onto a table, add in 1/2 cup butter and 1 egg, and mix to make a smooth dough. At home, I made the crust in the food processor and it only took a few seconds. At the lake, Katherine and I cut the butter into the dry ingredients with forks before mixing in the egg, so the process was a little more time consuming. Also, we didn't have any baking powder at the lake house (and the closest store was 19 miles away), so we just skipped it. Suprisingly, the lack of baking powder didn't have any discernible negative impact on the crust or overall tart outcome.
Katherine had warned me that even though the recipe instructs you to chill the dough and then roll it out to fit the bottom and sides of a springform pan, the dough is always too sticky to roll and so she just presses it into the pan. She also told me that she prefers the crust to be as thin as possible. Thus, even though the recipe is intended to make one 9-inch tart, Katherine and I used one batch of dough to make two 9-inch tart crusts (and I did the same at home), pressing the dough into the pans as thinly as possible.
You spread a thin layer of raspberry jam over the unbaked tart crust, and then spoon the almond filling (made by creaming together 1/2 cup butter and 2/3 cups sugar, and then adding 1 cup ground almonds, 1/2 teaspoon almond extract, and 2 eggs) over the jam. You bake the tart at 350 for about 50 minutes.
I love this tart. The moist almond filling has a wonderful chewy texture. I prefer the tart straight out of the fridge, as the filling seems to soften a bit and lose some of its chewiness after sitting out at room temperature. I'm grateful for Katherine's advice on making the crust as thin as possible; the crisp, buttery crust is a nice pairing for the filling, and the overall flavor combination with the raspberry jam is perfectly harmonious. This unadorned monochromatic tart might not look like much, but there is definitely more to it than meets the eye! And for me personally, this tart will always bring back the special memory of an idyllic weekend with a dear friend in an amazing place of natural splendor.
Previous Post: "How Do You Say Bland in Swedish?: Syltkakor," August 18, 2011.
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