Individual Bakewell Tarts

Whilst on holiday in Canada I took the opportunity to do some baking with my great-nieces.  Today the bake is for individual Bakewell Tarts.  We all love Bakewell Tarts and these individual ones, which could be made in a muffin tin, are ideal as desserts with some cream or custard.

In the UK often these tarts are sized smaller, as they are made in muffin tins but I had access to individual tart tins which seemed a much better size as a dessert.

The process takes a while, as there is pastry to be made, though I think shop bought shortcrust pastry would be good too, and then a frangipane filling has to be mixed too.   But all the effort is worthwhile as the resultant tart, rich with the flavour and texture of almonds, with some raspberry jam too, is simply wonderful.

I made these with Claire, and her pet potato, and they turned out very well indeed.  They tasted great and everyone enjoyed them immensely.

Ingredients:
For the pastry:

• 300g (2 cups  3 1/2 tbsp)cake and pastry flour(plain would be fine too)
• 3 tbsp icing sugar
• 150g (10 1/2 tbsp)cold butter, cubed
• 3 medium egg yolks(large in USA)
• cold water, if required to bring together

For the filling:

• Raspberry jam to taste( I used about 2 tablespoons)
• 100g(7 tbsp) unsalted butter
• 3 large eggs(xl in USA)
• 125g(1/2 cup +2 tbsp) caster sugar
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 150g (1 1/2 cups) ground almonds
• 40g(1 1/2 oz) flaked almonds

Method:

1. Place the flour, icing sugar and cubed butter into a food processor and pulse until the texture is like fine breadcrumbs.
2. Add the egg yolks and mix until the mixture begins to clump, adding a little water if necessary( I used 1 teaspoon of water).
3. Tip the mixture onto the work surface and pull together into a dough without overmixing.
4. Form into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap, then chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
5. Divide the mixture into 8 equal sized pieces.
6. Grease 8 4 inch(10cm) tarts tins.  Mine had removable bases but it isn’t necessary.
7. Roll out each piece of dough out until it is about 6 inches in diameter then carefully place into the tart tins, pressing the side into the fluted sides of the tin.  Leave a small overhang of pastry.
8. Prick the base of each tart case with a fork.
9. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
10. Preheat the oven to 190C/170C Fan/375 F.
11. Line the tart cases with parchment paper and fill with baking beans then blind bake for 10 to 15 minutes.
12. Remove from the oven and take out the baking beans and parchment paper and return to the oven for a further 10 minutes. 
13. Remove from the oven and trim off any excess pastry from the edges.
14. In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
15. Add the eggs and beat until combined.
16. Add 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract and the ground almonds and mix until all is combined.
17. Transfer to a piping bag for ease of filling the tarts.
18. Spoon some jam(to taste) into the bottom of the tart cases( I used about 3/4 tsp) and spread over the base.
19. Pipe the almond frangipane filling on the top until just about full.
20. Spread with a spatula to level off.
21. Sprinkle flaked almonds on the top(as few or many as you wish).
22. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes, or until the filling has risen and is spring to the touch and is a nice golden brown.
23. Remove from the oven and allow to cool a little before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.