Individual Strawberry Almond Tarts Recipes

Steps:

• For the shells: Pulse together the granulated sugar, flour and salt in a food processor to combine. Add the butter and continue to pulse until mealy. Add the egg yolks (reserve the egg whites for the filling) and pulse until the dough comes together. Press the dough into a disc, then wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour, or up to overnight.
• To mold the shells, grease a muffin tin with nonstick spray. Roll out the dough on a floured surface to 1/4-inch-thick, dusting with more flour as needed. Cut out 3-inch circles and press them into the muffin cups so that the dough comes all the way up the sides. (No worries if the dough tears; just patch it up with additional dough.) Freeze the shells for 15 minutes.
• For the filling: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Combine the almond meal, granulated sugar, salt, and butter, either by blending it in the food processor (no need to clean it out after making the dough, you can just use it immediately for this step), or by stirring it together in a large bowl (I find it's easiest to get in there with my hands). Add the almond extract, egg and the reserved egg whites from the shells, and continue to blend/stir until smooth and combined.
• Fill the frozen shells with the filling so that it comes up about 1/4-inch from the top. Bake until the tops and edges are lightly browned; begin checking for doneness at 30 minutes. Let cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then use a small offset spatula or a knife to remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
• For the glaze: If making the glaze with heavy cream, combine the powdered sugar, heavy cream and almond extract in a bowl until smooth. Add additional powdered sugar or liquid to thicken it up or thin it out so that you get the consistency of a thick glue.
• To make the glaze with the raspberries, place the raspberries in a fine-mesh sieve and give them a rinse. Place the sieve over a bowl and use a stiff rubber spatula or wooden spoon to smash them through the sieve into the bowl until you're just left with seeds in the sieve. Be sure to scrape the underside of the sieve to get the stuff that's sticking to it. (You should be left with about 2 tablespoons seedless puree. If it's a tiny bit more or a tiny bit less, that's fine.) Add the powdered sugar and almond extract and mix to make a thick glaze. If it's too thick, add a few drops of water to thin it out, and if it's too thin, add a few more spoonfuls of powdered sugar. It should be the consistency of a thick glue.
• Spread the glaze over the cooled tarts and decorate with sprinkles, almonds and anything else you'd like! These will keep for several days at room temperature or in the fridge.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350 degrees. In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour and salt. Cut 1/2 cup (1 stick) plus 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled, into cubes, and add to bowl. Process until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar and egg yolks. Pulse until the mixture begins to form clumps. Transfer to plastic wrap, and flatten into a disk. Chill until very firm (about 1 hour).
• Coarsely grate the pastry into a 12-inch loose-bottomed, fluted tart pan. Using the palm of your hand, gently press the pastry evenly into the pan, making sure to cover the bottom and sides of the tart pan completely. Line the pastry with foil, and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Transfer to oven, and bake 10 minutes. Remove from oven, and carefully remove the foil and weights. Return to oven, and bake until very light brown, about 10 minutes. Remove from oven. Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool. Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees.
• Place almonds in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse the almonds until fine. Remove from processor, and place in a mixing bowl.
• Let remaining 1 cup (2 sticks) of butter come to room temperature. Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of a food processor. Process until the mixture is light and creamy. Add almonds and eggs, one at a time.
• Spread mixture into the cooled pastry, and bake until top is golden brown, about 45 to 50 minutes. Remove from oven. Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool.
• Place the strawberries standing upright on tart, in a circular pattern. Dust the tart with confectioners' sugar.

Steps:

• Crust: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together oil, sugar, salt, and egg yolk. Stir in flour and oats until a crumbly dough forms. Press into bottom and up sides of a 9-inch fluted tart pan with removable bottom. Bake until set and light golden, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, about 1 hour.
• Filling: In a medium saucepan, heat milk, salt, and vanilla seeds until simmering around the edges. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together yolks and sugar until pale and thick; whisk in cornstarch until smooth. Whisking constantly, gradually add half of milk to egg mixture, then pour egg mixture into saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking constantly until custard is thickened and bubbles once in the center, about 2 minutes.
• Using a rubber spatula, press custard through a sieve into crust; smooth with a small offset spatula. Cover surface directly with plastic wrap and refrigerate until well chilled, about 2 hours. Just before serving, arrange strawberries on top and sprinkle with almonds.

Steps:

• For the dough, beat the butter and sugar with the paddle on medium speed until very soft and light. Beat in the vanilla and the yolk and continue beating until smooth and shiny, about 3 more minutes. Stop the mixer, sift the cake flour and add to the butter mixture. Pulse the mixer on and off to incorporate the flour. Scrape the dough onto a piece of plastic, wrap and chill it until firm.
• For the almond filling, combine almond paste, sugar, yolk and zest and beat by machine until smooth. Beat in butter, scrape bowl and beaters and beat in eggs. Continue beating until light.
• Stir in flour. Divide the dough into 4 parts and roll one piece at a time on a floured surface. Use each piece of dough to line a 3 to 4 inch diameter tart pan. Mass the scraps together after rolling the dough for the first four pans and line the last two.
• Arrange the sliced berries evenly on the crust in each pan, then top with the almond filling, spreading it evenly with a metal spatula. Strew evenly with the sliced almonds.
• Bake the tarts at 350 degrees about 25 minutes, until dough is baked through and filling is set.
• Cool in pan, unmold and dust with confectioners' sugar. Decorate each tart with a few whole berries.

Steps:

• Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in a small bowl and place in the freezer for 30 minutes. Put the flour mixture in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Add the butter and shortening and pulse about 10 times, or until the butter is in the size of peas. Add the ice water and process until the dough comes together. Dump on a well-floured board and form into a disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
• Roll out the dough and fit into 4 (4 1/2-inch) tart pans with removable sides. Don't stretch the dough when placing it in the pans or it will shrink during baking. Cut off the excess by rolling the pin across the top of each pan. Line the tart shells with a piece of buttered aluminum foil, butter side down, and fill them with dried beans or rice. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove the beans and foil, prick the bottom of the shells all over with a fork, and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes until lightly browned. Set aside to cool.
• Before serving, fill the tart shells with the pastry cream. Arrange the berries decoratively on top of the cream. Melt the apricot jelly with 1 teaspoon of water and brush the top of the tarts. Sprinkle with pistachios, if using, and serve.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the egg yolks and sugar on medium-high speed for 4 minutes, or until very thick. Reduce to low speed, and add the cornstarch.
• With the mixer still on low, slowly pour the hot milk into the egg mixture. Pour the mixture into a medium saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the mixture thickens, 5 to 7 minutes. Don't be alarmed when the custard comes to a boil and appears to curdle; switch to a whisk and beat vigorously. Cook, whisking constantly, for another 2 minutes; the custard will come together and become very thick, like pudding. Stir in the vanilla, Cognac, butter, and heavy cream. Pour the custard through a sieve into a bowl. Place plastic wrap directly on the custard and refrigerate until cold.

Steps:

• Mix all the crust ingredients together until well blended.
• Press into a nine-inch tart pan with a removable bottom, taking care to keep the thickness of the crust uniform.
• Chill for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a light golden color. Cool before filling.
• To assemble, hull the berries and arrange them upside down in the tart shell.
• Prepare a glaze by melting the jelly, gelatin and Grand Marnier in a saucepan. Stir over low heat until mixture is clear. Spoon or brush over the berries.
• Decorate the tart with bright orange nasturtium flowers.