Friday, October 18, 2013

FFwD: Caramel-Almond Custard Tart


Today we are making a Caramel-Almond Custard Tart as the designated recipe for the French Fridays with Dorie group. According to Dorie Greenspan this is a newer version of the traditional French Almond Custard Tart.




The first step in making this tart is the preparation of a Sweet Tart Dough using plain flour, confectioners´ sugar, a bit of sea salt, cold unsalted butter and one egg yolk. This is a dough that I always make by hand and not in the food processor – in my humble opinion, making the dough by hand is a rather meditative activity.




After a good three hour rest in the refrigerator, I decided to roll-out the crust rather than press it into my tart pan. This is a very forgiving dough, I enjoy making it and working with it.




Today, I chose my lovely rectangular French tart pan with removable bottom for this tart, I love the way you can cut clean small slices when you bake tarts in this pan.




After blind-baking the tart shell for about twenty minutes, I let it cool down while I prepared the easy caramel custard filling with sugar, water, heavy cream, two eggs, a pinch of sea salt and whole milk. It did not take long to make the caramel and then prepare the custard with it. It had a nice warm brown color when it was ready to be poured into the pre-baked tart shell.




Before you can pour the custard into the pre-baked and cooled tart shell, you scatter about one cup of slithered sweet almonds over the bottom of the tart shell. And then I baked the tart for about 45 minutes until the filling was uniformly puffed.




The tart will have be cooled to room temperature before you can cut nice clean slices. This is a surprisingly easy dessert tart to prepare and it has a nice, elegant look. Some of my taste testers enjoyed a slice with softly whipped cream, others sans crème fouettée – all agreed it was a nice French dessert tart.

To see how much the other members of the French Fridays with Dorie group liked Dorie´s Caramel-Almond Custard Tart,  please click here.




46 comments:

  1. This looks beautiful. Though I have ti disagree about the dough. I hated working with it - so crumbly and just a mess. Also I seem to have missed the memo about almonds on the top - everyone did that like you and it's so pretty (much nicer than the ones underneath the kinda sorta rise to the top but not evenly). I need to get a rectangular tart pan after seeing this post - so so elegant!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mardi, nice that you stopped by - no qualms about the dough whatsoever, I love working with it, it rolls out like a charm, it freezes well, and it does nor shrink while baking....by now I own four rectangular cake pans and two or three square ones, I appreciate how nicely you can cut pieces from the finished tart.

      Delete
  2. You got such a lovely color on your filling ! Mine was the "blondie" version but the taste was still yummy. I am going to be curious to go back and see how much caramel flavor gets kicked up when I leave the sugar on heat longer. Also, I was without my beloved Cuisinart this week and was laughing because I had to stop and think about to prepare this.by.hand. Yikes. Not meditative for me because all I was thinking about was how much quicker the machine would have been :) Seriously though, I finally used my hands to really combine the dough and it was pretty fun. Great photos as usual and that serving spoon is amazing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tricia, blondie version...caramel version...I am quite sure that this lovely tart tastes absolutely fabulous no matter what the color of the caramel - besides it is fun to experiment with different tastes a bit. Ha - the meditation...I believe there is nothing more relaxing than making a tart dough or kneading a yeast-based dough...I always, always feel better after I spent some serious time with my doughs in the kitchen! Thank you for all your fabulous and thoughtful comments - they do mean a lot to me!!!

      Delete
  3. I love the shape of your tart, Andrea. I love this dough too. I always press it into the pan before chilling it. It's no fail. I'm glad you enjoyed this one too. Have a great weekend.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Betsy, the shape is nice and it is easier to cut a rectangular tart when the filling is a custard based filling - makes for neater slices than a round pan, I believe. I was going for mini tartlets first, but simply ran out of time.

      Delete
  4. Your photos are just gorgeous, Andrea! The dough worked really well for me, too…I love the cookie like texture. Your tart is simply beautiful, the custard has such great color. And such a lovely serving spoon! Have a wonderful weekend!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kathy, that is quite a wonderful comment, dear friend. Would you believe I found this vintage "sugar spoon" at an antique store in Maastricht (NL) and just had to have it! So many props, so little time!

      Delete
  5. Now why did I not bring out this tart pan of mine (it did cross my mind) for this recipe? Yours absolutely gorgeous! Yes, I do agree that the slices (using this pan) are elegant!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Emily, there is alwasy a next time - so get out that rectangular tart pan and bake another one of these delicious French dessert tarts soon! Thank you for the nice comment!

      Delete
  6. I love the rectangular pan. I need to use mine more often. Beautiful pics.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Margret, thanks so much for the nice comment - these wonderful rectangular tart pans are somewhat underestimated or rather not used frequently enough. A lot of talented bakers out there own them but seem to forget about them ever so often - they make for a wonderful presentation though. So why not get it out of the cupboard and breathe new life into it!

      Delete
  7. Andrea,
    you are so much more than a blogger and a baker...
    You are a visionary.
    Lovely Lush Tart.
    Xx Happy Saturday, dear.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kim, hugs and kisses for that kind comment! You are such a faithful follower - I greatly appreciate your kindness!

      Delete
  8. A slice of heaven. That is your tart. And your photos. (Okay, and that spoon!!) Ganz toll, meine süßes freunden! ~ David

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear David, now that is a wonderful comment - a slice of heaven...well, I know that certain person at our house who demolished three slices of heaven...Ha! That spoon...if I find another one soon, I will reserve it for a give-away at Christmas time, for sure! Ganz liebe Grüße aus Bonn nach Tuscon!

      Delete
  9. There is absolutely NOTHING I adore about this recipe dear Andrea!! It looks so moist and tender... The almonds on the top makes it so pretty!! I'm sure it tasted divine...
    Have a wonderful sunday!
    xox Amy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Amy, love hat comment, thank you so much! Hope you had a safe and wonderful trip to Dubai! Liebe Grüße in die Schweiz!

      Delete
  10. Your almond custard tart is gorgeous. Now, may I have a slice, or two?

    ReplyDelete
  11. La tarte à l'air délicieuse, j'adore les photos et les couleurs sont bien choisies

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Merci, mon cher Nicolas! Je suis heureuse que tu aimes les photos! À la prochaine!

      Delete
  12. Your tart is beautiful Andrea. It looks like you got the perfect color on your sugar! I have a rectangular tart pan that I love but I don't have the perfect dish to serve it on. Beautiful photos!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Guyla, the color was nice, the taste was fabulous and this recipe will certainly be made again - I like the way it looks like when baked in that rectangular tart pan, easy to slice into and perfect for serving.

      Delete
  13. Perfectly done, my friend! And I love that you used your rectangular tart pan...I need to dust mine off :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Liz, thanks so much - rectanguar tart pans are definitely underrated, they make for such a lovely presentation.

      Delete
  14. Hi Andrea. I must agree...I like working my pie/tart dough by hand rather than the processor. It is a quiet and lovely process. And seeing this post has convinced me I must purchase a rectangular pie pan. They make for such charming desserts! Thank you for sharing. Give my love to the girls!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Monet, doesn´t it have the most meditative qualities...dough making by hand is wonderful for relaxing in the kitchen...at least most of the times...besides my kitchen appliances seem to be on strike every once in a while...but I do not seem to mind! Hugs to baby Lucy, please!

      Delete
  15. Can’t wait to try this with lots of almond.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you - lots of almonds are always delicious as a topping and with this tart it was no different!

      Delete
  16. Lovely rich tart, Andrea, and beautifully styled as always. I could use a slice of this right now - it would make a delicious, decadent breakfast, (I could pretend it was practically muesli with all those gorgeous almonds) I have to say, I cheat and use the food processor for pastry as I can keep everything chilled nicely. However, I do like to handle bread dough. There is something therapeutic about it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hester, a slice would pass as breakast, it did at our house. There was only one slice left and it was devoured for breakfast - this tart is still good the next day, the crust holds up nicely and the custard just sets a bit more. Thank you for the wonderful comment, dear Hester!

      Delete
  17. Yummy looking tart. I love your French Tart Pan.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Geraldine, thank you - isn´t that a wonderful French tart pan - it would not trade it for anything or any other pan.

      Delete
  18. Beautifully done.

    I think the rectangular pan makes for a really clean presentation (I have one that size).

    Re: Germany: Unfortunately, he was in meetings for the 2.5 days he was in Berlin so didn't get out too much. But I was gifted with a lovely selection of German chocolates. Those were a treat :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cher, chocolates are good, German chocolates are good...I must admit that I felt bad that I was not able to hand over a parcel in person to Joe so that he could bring it back home to you but Berlin is a few hundred kilometers away - maybe next time his business trip will bring him closer to Cologne...thanks for the lovely comment, dear Cher - hope you are feeling better this week.

      Delete
  19. I think I need to get a long, rectangular tart tin... yours is beautiful! :) How fantastic for you! I love the dough too - it's one of my favorites and one I will use again and again!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Alice, I have so many tart pans by now but this particular rectangular tart pan is still one of my very favorites - easy clean slices, particularly when the tart has a soft custard filling.

      Delete
  20. Love love love the spoon in the photo - where did you get it? This tart looks magnificent, I have never tried a caramel custard before so I will definitely have to look into that delightful combination further. Also I have just added a rectangle tart pan on my list of must haves...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Karen, I found the old Dutch sugar measuring spoon at an antique store in Masstricht (The Netherlands) - I saw it and just had to have it. Unfortunately it was the only one they had. The rectangular tart pan with the removable bottom is a must have - I would not want to part with it - it is different from the usual round cake pans and whne you make a tart with a custard like filling, it is easier to cut nice slices. Thank you for the lovely comment - hope your business is going well, dear Karen!

      Delete
  21. Your rectangular tart looks very classy - love it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you very much - rectangular tart pans have the tendency to make evrything look elegant!

      Delete
  22. That tart is so beautiful!!! Love the caramel and almond custard!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you very much - this was a first for me. I had never made a caramel almond tart before but I am convinced that this lovely French dessert tart will grace our table again soon.

      Delete
  23. Your slices are so pretty! Mine tasted good, but the rectangular pan does give you much nicer slices.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jora, once in a while I actually remember that I own a rectangular tart pan - the day I made this tart was one of those times and I was quite glad that I did because these tarts with creamy filling are not always easy to cut into.

      Delete