Dutch Almond Tartlets Recipes

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Gradually add flour until well blended. Refrigerate for 1 hour. , Shape into 1-in. balls. Place in ungreased miniature muffin cups; press onto the bottom and up the sides to form a shell. , For filling, in a small bowl, beat the almond paste, eggs and sugar until blended. Fill each shell with about 1-1/2 teaspoons filling., Bake at 325° for 25-30 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Cool for 10 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely. , For frosting, combine the confectioners' sugar, butter and enough milk to achieve desired consistency. Pipe or spread over tarts. Top each with a cherry half.

Steps:

• For dough: Beat the butter, sugars, and salt until fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla, and mix well. Stir in the flour until well blended, then refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes or longer.
• Shaping: Place a rounded teaspoon of dough (about 1/2 oz.)into each ungreased mini-muffin cup. With floured fingers or a tart tamper, press the dough up the sides of the cups to form the floor and walls of the crust. Place the crusts in the refrigerator to chill while preparing the filling.
• Filling: Crumble the almond paste into a small bowl. Blend in the sugar, salt and extract(s). Add one egg at a time to the almond paste, mixing well after each addition until there are no lumps.
• Assembly and Baking: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place a slightly rounded 1/4 teaspoon of the raspberry jam into each dough-filled cup. Top with almond filling. The almond filling should come to the top of the dough. Bake the tarts for 24 to 28 minutes, until they're puffed and golden brown. Allow the tarts to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before turning them out to cool completely. While they cool, make the glaze.
• Glaze: In a small bowl, mix the confectioners' sugar with the water until dissolved. Add the food coloring, if you're using it. Drizzle the glaze over the tarts. The tarts store well for 3 - 4 days in airtight containers; freeze them for longer storage.

Steps:

• Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F.
• For Pastry Crust.
• Whisk together the flour and salt.
• Cut butter into pats and add to flour mixture.
• Using a pastry blender or your fingers, cut the butter into the flour mixture until the mixture is mealy with pea-sized lumps.
• Add the ice water and knead the dough slightly to bring it together and form a ball.
• Chill dough for 30 minutes.
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• For Filling.
• Combine the almond paste and sugar (it will be very stiff so you will have to mix it with your fingers); add the egg and mix until well-combined.
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• To Make Tarts.
• Pull off enough dough to make a 1/2 to 3/4-inch ball.
• Place ball of dough into cup of non-stick or lightly greased muffin/tart pan (with 1 to 1 1/2-inch sized cups).
• Using a tart shaper (dipped in flour to prevent sticking) press into center of ball, flattening the bottom and forcing dough up sides of muffin cup. If you don't have a tart shaper use your thumb or other rounded tool instead.
• Be careful not to make dough too thin on bottom. Fill in any accidental thin spots with small pieces of dough pressed into place.
• Repeat for remaining muffin cups.
• Return any remaining dough to refrigerator until ready to make next batch to keep it from getting to soft.
• Place almond filling in pastry bag or plastic bag with a hole cut in one corner and pipe filling into pastry cups, filling them up about 3/4 of the way full (filling with puff up some during baking).
• Bake 15-20 minutes, or until crust is lightly browned.
• Let cool in pan before removing tarts.
• If desired, spinkle tops with powdered sugar after cool.

Steps:

• For dough, begin by cutting flour into margarine until well blended. Add sour cream and mix well. Form into two balls, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight. For filling, mix almond paste, eggs, sugar and flour together. Mix well and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll out 1 ball of dough on a pastry cloth until VERY thin. Using a glass top about 2 1/2 inches wide, cut out circles. Gently press into small tartlet pans. Add about 1 teaspoon of almond mixture to each tartlet shell. Prepare frosting by mixing together softened butter and sugar until creamy. Add vanilla and 1 tablespoon whipping cream. Add more if need to make thinner. Add food coloring and mix well. Bake 20-25 minutes until light brown. While warm, frost each tartlet with a light layer of pink frosting. Store in refrigerator.

Steps:

• For the shells: Pulse together the granulated sugar, flour and salt in a food processor to combine. Add the butter and continue to pulse until mealy. Add the egg yolks (reserve the egg whites for the filling) and pulse until the dough comes together. Press the dough into a disc, then wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour, or up to overnight.
• To mold the shells, grease a muffin tin with nonstick spray. Roll out the dough on a floured surface to 1/4-inch-thick, dusting with more flour as needed. Cut out 3-inch circles and press them into the muffin cups so that the dough comes all the way up the sides. (No worries if the dough tears; just patch it up with additional dough.) Freeze the shells for 15 minutes.
• For the filling: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Combine the almond meal, granulated sugar, salt, and butter, either by blending it in the food processor (no need to clean it out after making the dough, you can just use it immediately for this step), or by stirring it together in a large bowl (I find it's easiest to get in there with my hands). Add the almond extract, egg and the reserved egg whites from the shells, and continue to blend/stir until smooth and combined.
• Fill the frozen shells with the filling so that it comes up about 1/4-inch from the top. Bake until the tops and edges are lightly browned; begin checking for doneness at 30 minutes. Let cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then use a small offset spatula or a knife to remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
• For the glaze: If making the glaze with heavy cream, combine the powdered sugar, heavy cream and almond extract in a bowl until smooth. Add additional powdered sugar or liquid to thicken it up or thin it out so that you get the consistency of a thick glue.
• To make the glaze with the raspberries, place the raspberries in a fine-mesh sieve and give them a rinse. Place the sieve over a bowl and use a stiff rubber spatula or wooden spoon to smash them through the sieve into the bowl until you're just left with seeds in the sieve. Be sure to scrape the underside of the sieve to get the stuff that's sticking to it. (You should be left with about 2 tablespoons seedless puree. If it's a tiny bit more or a tiny bit less, that's fine.) Add the powdered sugar and almond extract and mix to make a thick glaze. If it's too thick, add a few drops of water to thin it out, and if it's too thin, add a few more spoonfuls of powdered sugar. It should be the consistency of a thick glue.
• Spread the glaze over the cooled tarts and decorate with sprinkles, almonds and anything else you'd like! These will keep for several days at room temperature or in the fridge.

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs and extract. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour or until easy to handle., On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4-in. thickness; cut with a floured 2-in. round cookie cutter. Place half of the circles 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Crumble 1/2 teaspoon almond paste over each; top with remaining circles. Pinch edges to seal., Cut a small slit in top of each cookie. Brush with egg white. Press an almond in each slit. Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Steps:

• Prepare the crust: Preheat oven to 400 degrees with rack in center. Butter a 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk to combine flour, sugar, and salt. In a small glass measuring cup, stir together butter, vanilla, and 1/2 tablespoon water; pour over flour mixture. Stir to combine. With floured hands, press dough into prepared pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove tart shell from oven, and reduce heat to 350 degrees.
• Prepare the filling: In a large bowl, stir together almonds, heavy cream, sugar, egg, almond extract, Grand Marnier, and salt. Pour filling into crust. Bake tart on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet until golden brown, about 45 minutes.

Steps:

• For dough:
• Sift first 6 ingredients into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter and sugar in large bowl until blended. Beat in egg. Add flour mixture and beat until moist clumps form. Gather dough into ball; divide into 2 pieces, 1 slightly larger than the other. Flatten dough into disks; wrap and chill at least 2 hours. (Can be made 2 days ahead; keep chilled. Soften slightly before rolling.)
• For filling:
• Blend first 8 ingredients in processor until nuts are finely chopped. Transfer to small bowl. Cover; chill at least 2 hours and up to 2 days.
• Preheat oven to 325°F. Butter 9-inch-diameter springform pan. Roll out larger dough piece on lightly floured surface to 13-inch round. Transfer to pan and press gently over bottom and up sides, pressing any tears together. Spread filling in dough. Trim dough on sides to 1/2 inch above level of filling. Fold dough in over filling.
• Roll out second dough disk on lightly floured surface to 12- to 13-inch round. Using bottom of cake pan as aid, cut out 9-inch-diameter round of dough. Slide dough round onto plate and freeze 5 minutes to firm. Reserve dough scraps for cookies. Place chilled dough round on tart; press to adhere and seal edges.
• Bake tart until crust is brown, about 50 minutes. Remove sides of springform pan; cool tart completely on pan bottom. Maintain oven temperature.
• Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll out dough scraps on lightly floured surface to scant 1/4-inch thickness. Using 2-inch gingerbread-man cutter, cut out cookies. Transfer cutouts to prepared sheets. Repeat, using all of dough.
• Bake cookies until golden, about 8 minutes. Cool cookies on sheets. (Tart and cookies can be made ahead; cover and store at room temperature 1 day or refrigerate up to 3 days.)
• Sift powdered sugar over top of tart. Place small dab of preserves on back of 1 cookie; place at top edge of tart. Repeat with more cookies, forming border around tart. Transfer tart to platter. Let stand at room temperature at least 1 hour.