Amandine Tart

Amandine tart with custard

 

A delicious tea time treat which is simple enough to prepare with puff pastry bought from the frozen section of super markets and bakeries. It is perfect for a crowd.

 

Did you know that amandine is a fancy pastry that is almond-based? There are plenty of "kinds'' too. It could be a tartlet, or a tart, individual or large, round or long, with puff or shortcrust pastry, typically flavoured with rum and garnished with sliced almonds. Brush it with an apricot or peach jam to finish it off with a beautiful glaze.

This pastry is served with a dollop of sherry custard

The roll tucked under gives this pastry its finished look. Keep the sides free of custard to be able to tuck it in. This is the almond cream mixed with cream patisserie.

Makes 3 lb or 1.5 kg
Will be enough to fill about 3 to 4 pre-rolled sheets

Almond cream

8 oz butter
1 1/4 cup sugar
9 to 12 egg yolks - depending on size and how eggy you like it. 
2 cups almond meal
2 tbsp corn flour/ cornstarch
1 tbsp Rum
1 tbsp vanilla extract
a pinch of salt

Cream the butter, add the sugar, beat , corn flour, almond meal, rum, vanilla and egg yolks. It will be thick enough to spoon. 

Remove a pre-rolled sheet of puff pastry that has been thawed overnight in the fridge so that it is chilled but soft enough to unroll. 

Place the sheet on a flat surface and, with a pizza cutter, cut in half, long side. 
Spoon the amandine over the pastry  roll the sides over on both the long ends (picture below). 
Sprinkle it with demerara sugar (or any other granular sugar) and slivers of almonds for decoration. 

Bake for 22 minutes in a preheated oven at 400 F or 200 C. Or until golden brown. 

Serve with a creme patisserie if desired. 

Tips

To finish it off before baking, brush the pastry with an egg beaten with a tsp of water before baking it to give it a good glaze. 
Or, once it is baked, brush it with a bit of apricot or peach jam to glaze it.
 Once it has cooled down a tad, with a sieve, dust the pastry with icing sugar (to make it look professional) before serving. 
Best eaten warm while freshly baked. 

This almond cream can be frozen for up to 3 months. Divide it equally for each pastry to keep it simple to use. 

Another option is to whisk in 2 tablespoons of thick chilled cream pattisserie into 250 g/1/2 lb of almond cream before placing it on the pastry sheet to bake. It will make it creamier and lighter. 

If you prefer to try something new, use unsalted peeled pistachios that are crushed instead of almonds and make a pistachio cream. The cream patisserie is not recommended to be mixed in with pistachio cream as it will lose its colour and flavour if added to the mix.

Ready to bake you may roll it more closely if preferred
This pastry is just almond cream without the cream pattisserie

Creme Patisserie 

2 cups cream

3 tbsp flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup sugar

2 egg yolks

1 tsp vanilla

1 tbsp sherry

In a pan, mix the sugar, flour, salt, and cream. Whisk to cook over a low flame. Bring to a boil for a minute or two.

In another bowl, mix 2 egg yolks, vanilla and sherry. Mix it well. Now add 1 tbsp of the hot mixture to the egg and beat it well. This will temper the eggs so they don't curdle. Now, through a sieve, push the egg mix into the cream mix and keep mixing. Bring it back to the stove for a minute to allow the eggs to cook through. Keep stirring to keep it smooth. Put a piece of cling film over the custard so it does not form a skin over it.

My published cookbooks are available for sale through myself and on Amazon.

The World of Parsi Cooking: Food Across Borders is a 3 award winning book. It has been self published in July 2019 and will be going into its second print in 2022. 

The Art of Parsi Cooking; reviving an ancient cuisine was published in 2016 by Austin Macauley and continues to be available through amazon book depot book depository and from the publishers.

Photo courtesy Niloufer Mavalvala