Maids of Honor Tarts
My friend Charles, of Five Euro Foods, often posts traditional British recipes, so he was the person I asked about these intriguingly titled tarts which I'd run across in my reading. When he said he hadn't ever heard of them, but they sounded like something worth trying, I decided to finally get off my duff and give them a shot.
I had bought the ground almonds to make the tarts with a few times. The last batch got used up in the rugelach I made. And the batch before that were used to roll the matcha truffles in. This time I also had raspberry jam AND almond extract in hand so I had no more excuses.
Finally, here they are. Maids of Honor Tarts.
Maids of Honor Tarts II (makes 12) (makes 20)
1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie (below)
1/4 cup raspberry jam
1 egg
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons milk
1 cup ground almonds
1/4 tsp almond extract
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Generously grease 12 2-inch tart tins or muffin pans. (I didn't bother and didn't have any problems with the tarts sticking to the pan.)
Roll out pastry. Cut 12 3-inch circles. Reserve pastry scraps. Fit pastry circles into greased tart tins. Spread a scant 1 teaspoon of jam into bottom of each tart shell.
In a small mixing bowl, beat together egg, sugar, and salt until light in color. Mix in milk, almond extract and ground almonds. Spoon an equal amount of filling into each tart shell.
(Cut pastry scraps into small strips and form a cross on top of each tart.) OMITTED
Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes, until tops are golden brown.
Sift icing sugar over the tops if desired before serving.
Pie Crust (enough for top and bottom or 2 bottoms)
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup shortening or butter
1/4 cup sour cream
1 egg
water as needed
Sift dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Cut in the shortening with a pastry blender or cutter.
Beat together the egg and sour cream and stir the liquid into the dough using a fork. If a hand full of dough holds together when squeezed, the dough is wet enough, otherwise, fork in an additional tablespoon of water and try again. Repeat.
Wrap in saran wrap and refrigerate until needed or roll to 1/4" thickness.
For an empty shell, bake 12-15 min in a 400 F oven. For a filled shell, bake 15 min at 400 F, then reduce temperature to 350 F and bake an additional 25-30 min until the contents are set.
Raspberry Jam base for the regular Maids of Honor tarts
Mixed Citrus Curd version - lemon curd in the bottom instead of the raspberry jam and then the almond custard on top.
Both sizes of tarts for comparison and profile of the interior. Note, that they each started with 3 inch circles of pastry, they just went into different sized pans.
ETA: I'm counting this as a pantry recipe as the ground almonds were already in my freezer.
I had bought the ground almonds to make the tarts with a few times. The last batch got used up in the rugelach I made. And the batch before that were used to roll the matcha truffles in. This time I also had raspberry jam AND almond extract in hand so I had no more excuses.
Finally, here they are. Maids of Honor Tarts.
Maids of Honor Tarts II (makes 12) (makes 20)
1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie (below)
1/4 cup raspberry jam
1 egg
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons milk
1 cup ground almonds
1/4 tsp almond extract
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Generously grease 12 2-inch tart tins or muffin pans. (I didn't bother and didn't have any problems with the tarts sticking to the pan.)
Roll out pastry. Cut 12 3-inch circles. Reserve pastry scraps. Fit pastry circles into greased tart tins. Spread a scant 1 teaspoon of jam into bottom of each tart shell.
In a small mixing bowl, beat together egg, sugar, and salt until light in color. Mix in milk, almond extract and ground almonds. Spoon an equal amount of filling into each tart shell.
(Cut pastry scraps into small strips and form a cross on top of each tart.) OMITTED
Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes, until tops are golden brown.
Sift icing sugar over the tops if desired before serving.
Pie Crust (enough for top and bottom or 2 bottoms)
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup shortening or butter
1/4 cup sour cream
1 egg
water as needed
Sift dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Cut in the shortening with a pastry blender or cutter.
Beat together the egg and sour cream and stir the liquid into the dough using a fork. If a hand full of dough holds together when squeezed, the dough is wet enough, otherwise, fork in an additional tablespoon of water and try again. Repeat.
Wrap in saran wrap and refrigerate until needed or roll to 1/4" thickness.
For an empty shell, bake 12-15 min in a 400 F oven. For a filled shell, bake 15 min at 400 F, then reduce temperature to 350 F and bake an additional 25-30 min until the contents are set.
Raspberry Jam base for the regular Maids of Honor tarts
Mixed Citrus Curd version - lemon curd in the bottom instead of the raspberry jam and then the almond custard on top.
Both sizes of tarts for comparison and profile of the interior. Note, that they each started with 3 inch circles of pastry, they just went into different sized pans.
ETA: I'm counting this as a pantry recipe as the ground almonds were already in my freezer.