Friday, February 11, 2011

Orange Almond Heart Tart


Time for French Fridays with Dorie, our recipe this week is an Orange Almond Tart. I was excited about this recipe since I love oranges and almonds and making tarts. This recipe is quite similar to the recipe for French Pear Tarts that we made with Tuesdays with Dorie back in January of 2009.



Dorie's Sweet Tart dough is made in the food processor, I have found that for some reason (not sure why) I always need to add a little extra liquid when making my tart doughs in the food processor so instead of the egg yolk only, I used the whole egg and a couple of tablespoons of water to help the tart dough come together.



Next, pick a tart pan. I figured I'd go with my large heart tart pan since it is almost Valentine's Day and who can resist a heart tart? I did not pre-bake my tart dough, after baking quite a few tarts over the past few years, I've just come to the conclusion that I like my tart dough a little less browned and crunchy that many of the recipes call for. I like it crispy and flaky kind of like a cross between a soft sugar cookie and pie crust.


I used the pat in pan method for the tart dough, which always seems easier to me. Then the tart dough is sent to holiday in the refrigerator for a while the almond cream filling is prepared. I do not keep almond flour on hand but almost always have almonds, and find that you can make a rustic almond meal in the food processor with sliced almonds that works just as well as almond flour and gives it a little more texture. For the filling, instead of two teaspoons rum or one teaspoon vanilla, I switched it up to two teaspoons triple sec (which, according to wikipedia, was invented in France) -- to up the orange flavor and one teaspoon vanilla, since I love vanilla and orange together.


The first photo in this post is my "before baking" shot that I always take. Above is the tart just out of the oven after testing done at only 30 minutes. I had the timer set for 50 minutes per the recipe, but went to check at 30 just because it smelled done to me, and there it was, perfectly golden brown.


And below generously dusted with powdered sugar. Haven't tried this one yet but pretty sure we will love it. Will report back after dinner with the results of the family taste test :) ETA: This tart is so delicious! I think it's my favorite recipe I've made with FFwD so far. My five year old daughter said it was awesome and my three year old son said it was really yummy and wanted a second piece. Everyone else was too full from dinner to try it (tonight was homemade pizza night) but I'm sure that they'll love it as soon as they have some.

9 comments:

Ms. Hobby said...

I love the heart pan. I found it only took 30 minutes too.

Unknown said...

How lovely, and perfect for Valentine's Day. I love the shot of all your tart pans - we should have a photo roundup of everyone's baking pan collections one day!

Unknown said...

Interesting you had to add water. I found my pastry turned out in the making phase but was tough once baked. I am tres jaloux of all your fabulous tart pans though!

Your pictures are delish!

Cher Rockwell said...

Awww, how sweet are the heart tarts? Very nice. I wished that I had skipped the par-bake - your crust looks lovely.

Unknown said...

Extremely jealous of your tart pan collection! I didn't part bake my crust either, not by choice for me, I just forgot. Interested to see how yours turned out.

Anonymous said...

You have quite a collection of tart pans! I guess you bake tarts often. :)

I love the golden colour of the crust.

tricia s. said...

Gorgeous results and extra credit for the heart pan ! I smiled at the shot of your tart pan collection. Isn't it great to have the reason to use these fun items:) Keeper recipe for certain.

Deb in Hawaii said...

That is such a pretty tart--I love the heart shaped and the orange-almond combination sounds lovely.
;-)

alex said...

looks so good..

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