Almond tart shell

tart crust ready for rolling out

Wow, what a week this has been in the news.  As our lives are all affected by the current covid-19 crisis, home is more important than ever, and making satisfying food is good for our physical health as well as our emotional health.  Today I contributed to my emotional health by making a wonderful tart shell.  This crust has all the usual things found in a crust (pie or tart) with the addition of one important ingredient:  ground roasted almonds.  I love roasting almonds.  The aroma from the kitchen is amazing.  Mixing up the dough and tossing in the ground nuts, seeing the dough come out speckled from the almonds, tasting it, it's a great experience to make tart dough.

tart crust partially rolled out

The dough has to be chilled overnight after it's made.  But when it's brought out, this particular dough can be rolled out just about right away, even still chilled.  In fact, if you wait too long and it warms up, you'll want to pop it back into the fridge so it can be handled more easily.  When rolling, I put plastic wrap under and over the dough.  This means flour does not have to be added to keep it from sticking to the rolling surface or the rolling pin.  Roll in all directions to create a rough circle -- it doesn't have to be too perfect.

checking the size

I always put the tart pan on the rolled out dough to check the roll-out size.  This is just about right.

preparing for lifting and placement

Then I remove the tart pan bottom and place it on the rolled out dough after removing the top layer of plastic wrap.  I will lift the bottom layer of plastic wrap and the dough and the pan bottom all at once, and then invert it and place it into the tart pan frame.

ready for trimming

Once in the pan, you mustn't stretch the dough against the sides.  Whatever you stretch will shrink later.  You should instead lift the edge gently and let it settle down against the bottom and sides of the pan, and only then press just a bit to stabilize the placement.

starting to trim

Then I take a small plastic spatula and drag across the edge of the pan pulling from inside the pan to outside.  This trims the dough so that it is level with the top of the pan, but also pulls it into the scalloped edge of the pan frame (which has been greased lightly).

looking good

As you can see, it rapidly starts to look very nice, very elegant.

When finished, you have a great looking tart shell ready for baking.  The scraps ... well, I toss those into the fridge to be used later for small little projects, or I toss them out for the squirrels.  They love it.

ready for the oven

I put a piece of parchment paper over the shell and fill it with rice.  Some people like to use beans or pie weights, but rice is what I prefer.  The weight of the rice helps to keep the dough from puffing up while cooking.  Now it's ready for the oven.

a few more minutes in the oven, but without the rice weight

After about 25 minutes, I removed the parchment paper and the rice, and let the tart shell finish baking.

looks great and has a great aroma

When it comes out, it has nice color, nice texture, and a nice aroma.

excellent

As you can see, it's a beautiful shell ready for a filling ... almost.  First I'm going to paint it with melted chocolate.  This will help seal the crust so that moisture  from the filling won't make the bottom soggy.

good enough to eat even without filling

Now it must cool so that the painted chocolate firms up. Then it's ready for filling.

the finished product

And here it is.  One triple chocolate tart with whipped cream.  The filling is important, but just as important is a great crust.  Almonds, painted chocolate, a great bake, the crust is excellent.

Everyone grab a plate and a fork.  I'll cut and serve.

Have a great week everyone!