CHEZ PANISSE ALMOND TART

CHEZ PANISSE ALMOND TART image

Yield 1 tart

Number Of Ingredients 24

Ingredients

For the dough
1 cup (140 g) flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup (4 oz, 115 g) chilled unsalted butter, cut into little cubes
1 tablespoon ice water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon almond extract
Mix the flour and sugar in a standing electric mixer or food processor (or by hand, using a pastry blender.)
Add the butter and mix or pulse until the butter is in very small pieces, the size of rice. It should be pretty well-integrated with no large visible chunks.
Add the water and extracts and mix until the dough is smooth and comes together.
Press into a flat disk, wrap in plastic and chill thoroughly.
To put the pastry in the pan, let the dough come to room temperature and press the dough into a tart shell using your hand.
It takes some practice but don't worry if it doesn't look perfect. Try to get the dough relatively flat on the bottom, and push it evenly up the sides with your thumbs. But once again, it doesn't need to be perfect, but you do want to make sure the sides don't collapse. If that happens, you can take it out midway during baking, and push the half-baked dough back up the sides.
Put the tart shell in the freezer and chill thoroughly.
To bake the shell, preheat the oven to 375F (190C).
Bake the shell for 20-30 minutes, until it is set and light golden-brown.
Remove from the oven and patch any holes with leftover dough.
For the tart filling:
1 cup (250 ml) heavy cream
1 cup (200 g) sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup (80 g) sliced almonds (I prefer unblanched, but either is fine)
1/8 teaspoon almond extract
2 teaspoons Grand Marnier or Amaretto

Steps:

Instructions for preparing tart filling: 1. To bake the tart, line the rack under the one you plan to use with a sheet of aluminum foil to catch any spills. 2. Heat the cream, sugar, & salt in a big, wide heavy-duty pot (use one that's at least 4 qts,) until it begins to boil. Continue to cook & when it starts to foam up, remove it from the heat & stir in the almonds, the extract, & liquor. 3. Scrape the filling into the shell. If there's a bit too much filling, don't toss it; in case the tart leaks, you can use it to add more. Make sure there's no clumps or piles of almonds & that everything is evenly distributed, then put the filled tart shell into oven. 4. After the first 10 min., check the tart. Take a heatproof rubber spatula, holding it diagonally & with a tapping motion, break up the surface of the tart. Doing this is important since it avoids the top of the tart getting that 'corn flaky' look. Be sure to give the filling a good series of 'taps'-not enough to break the tart shell pastry underneath, but it's important to break up the surface crust that's forming. 5. Continue to cook, checking the tart every 5-8 minutes, & break up any dry crust that may be forming, getting less aggressive as the filling sets up. As it begins to caramelize, stop tapping it & let the tart do its thing. 6. Remove the tart from the oven when the filling is the color of coffee with a light touch of cream in it & there are no large pockets of gooey white filling, about 30 min. Let the tart cool a few minutes on a cooling rack. 7. Check & see if the tart has fastened itself to the tart ring. Slide a knife between the tart & the pan to loosen it so the sides don't come off when you remove the ring. 8. To remove the ring rest the tart on top of a solid object & gently coax the ring off. Slip a large spatula underneath it to return the tart to a cooling rack.