Almond Tartlets

I am not one for surprises....I mean really I don't like surprises. I'm a girl that will read the spoiler for a movie and still watch it, but the surprise with this unexpected recipe invention was definitely a welcomed one. It all started by me having some extra frangipane in the fridge from some almond danish I made. I really wanted to make a large almond tart in the scalloped pan but a lack of funds to buy the pan sent that dream up in smoke. So I tried to figure out what else I could do to utilize the almond-y goodness in the fridge without breaking the bank to buy new equipment. I wouldn't dare use a regular bar pan because I wasn't sure if I could achieve perfect edges in that way so I settled on using my muffin pan since I though the smaller individual size would be easier to control. Now to start the actual recipe. What crust to use??? Flaky pie dough, pate brisee, mealy dough?? I settled on flaky and decided it was small enough that I wouldn't have to blind bake it. Last night I mixed up my flaky pie dough and put it the fridge to rest overnight. In the morning I got straight to work but rolling it out and and cutting into little circles. I had lost my circular cookie cutter so I had to use a drinking glass but it worked just fine.  So I shaped the pieces of pie dough into their spaces and filled with 1/2 tsp of peach preserves but you could use whatever your heart desires.

Then I filled then with 1 tbsp of frangipane and topped with spiced almonds.

After 25 minutes in the oven at 400 degrees this is what I got.

 

I think these pictures speak for themselves, and the recipe definitely is not hard to do. So if you want to give it a try here's the recipe. Enjoy

Flaky Pastry

4 cups pastry flour

1 1/2 cups unslted butter

1/2 cup ice cold water

2 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

- Mix together dry ingredients in a large bowl and set aside.

- Cut butter into tsp sized pieces then cut into flour mixture with a pastry blender until it resembles pea size pieces.

- Mix in cold water gently until just absorbed. DO NOT OVERWORK!

 - Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Frangipane

10 oz Almond paste

3/4 cup butter

1/4 cup brandy or amaretto

1/2 cup sugar

3 tbsp all purpose flour

1 cup almond flour

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp almond extract

1 egg

- Cream butter and sugar together. 

 - Add in egg, beat for 30 seconds

 - And in remaining ingredients and beat until creamy.

** The frangipane makes too much for this exact recipe but it can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container. I used mine around 2 weeks later and it was still great.