杏仁塔（Almond Tartlet）

杏仁塔做了很多次了，很简单，也很好看。如果上面放水果就是水果塔了，带去聚会很漂亮。

这个季节的水果不多，就简单些，表面烤得稍微焦一些，很香！





















做法只有英文的。（摘自The Food of France）

用料：

• 1 batch sweet pastry (see below)
  
• 1 batch frangipane (see below)
• 3 1/4 cup mixed berries
• 3 tablespoons apricot preserves

做法：

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Rollout the pastry about 1/8 inch thich and use to line teo 3-inch-wide tartlet pans, put the frangipane in a pastry bag and pipe into the tartlet pan.
3. Put the pans on a baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until golden.
4. Cool slightly on a wire rack, then arrange the berries on top.
5. Melt the preserves with 1 teaspoon of water, strain to remove any lumps and brush over the berries to make them shine.
   

制作心得：

• Various shaped tartlet pans can be used in this recipe.
• When put frangipane into the pan, you can use a spoon if you don't want to use pastry bag. you don't need to even out the frangipane inside the pan, frangipane will be melted and evened out after it is baked.
• The last step makes the finished tartlets look really shiny, don't skip this step if you takes them to the parties.
  

Sweet Pastry

用料：

• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• small pinch of salt
• 2/3 cup unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
  

做法：

1. Sift the flour and salt onto a work surface and make a well in the center. Put the butter into the well and work, using a pecking action with your fingertips and thumb, until this is very soft.
2. Add the sugar to the butter and mix together.
   
3. Add eggs into the butter and mix together.
4. Gradually incorporate the flour, flicking it onto the mixture and then chopping through it until you have a rough dough. Bring together with your hands and then knead a few times to make a smooth dough.
   
5. Roll into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and put in the regrigerator for at least 1 hour.
6. Rollout the pastry into a circle on a lightly floured surface and use to line a tart/tartlet pan, as directed in the recipe.
   

制作心得：

• This is basic tart pastry recipe which can be used in all kinds of tarts/tartlets
  
• The dough can be made in food processor.
• Keep the butter cold before use it in the recipe
• Don't over-work the dough, it gets quite tough quickly, loses its flakiness.

Frangipane:

用料：

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 1/3 cups ground almonds
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 5 eggs, lightly beaten
  

做法：

1. Beat the butter until very soft.
2. Add confectioners' sugar, ground almonds and flour and beat well.
3. Add eggs gradually, beating until fully incorperated.
4. Transfer to a clean bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerated for up t
   

制作心得：

• If you can't buy ground almond or almond flour directly, you can ground almond in the food processor. Add some flour with the whole almond in the food processor, so that flour will absort the oil when ground almond, make it easier to achieve finer texture.
• If you can't get bleached almond(almond w/o skin) directly, you can make your own bleached almond by put almond into boiling water for 3-5 minutes, the skin can be peeled off easily.
• Frangipane can be made in food mixter, as I always do.