Almond Tartlets
Line patty pans with puff or plain paste, fill with the following mixture, and bake in a moderate oven until firm. Blanch and finely chop one-third pound Jordan almonds. Add two tablespoons cracker rolled and sifted, three eggs slightly beaten, one-third cup sugar, one-third teaspoon salt, two cups milk, and one-half teaspoon vanilla.
This is a thin almond custard baked in pastry, and it behaves like any custard: the oven has to stay gentle or the filling weeps. A few notes on the vessels and ingredients.
- Moderate ovenAbout 350F. If you are using puff paste, a hotter start will help set the layers before the heat drops for the custard, though the original directs only a moderate oven throughout.
- Patty pansIndividual tartlet or muffin tins, roughly 2 1/2 to 3 inches across. One-third pound of almonds plus the custard fills about twelve; the original gives no yield.
- Jordan almondsNot the sugar-shelled confection. Jordan almonds were the large, flat, sweet almonds shipped from Malaga, sold in the shell or blanched. Plain whole raw almonds are the substitute; blanch by covering with boiling water for a minute, then slipping off the skins.
- Cracker rolled and siftedTwo tablespoons of fine crumbs from a plain soda cracker, crushed and passed through a sieve. They thicken and absorb, keeping the custard from separating. Unsalted saltines or water crackers work; do not use sweetened crumbs.
- Blind bake the shellsThe original fills raw pastry, but the filling is loose enough to soak it. If you prefer crisp bottoms, line the tins, chill, then bake empty at 400F for 10 to 12 minutes before filling.
- Filling and handlingTwo cups milk to three eggs is a soft, pourable custard. Set the filled tins on a pulled-out rack or a baking sheet rather than carrying them across the kitchen full.
- "Until firm"Expect 25 to 30 minutes. The center should still wobble slightly when the pan is nudged; a knife inserted an inch from the edge comes out clean. Baked until wholly set, the custard curdles and shrinks away from the crust.
- ServingCool at least to warm before eating so the custard finishes setting. They are best the day they are made; the crust softens overnight.
The form is old, a descendant of the almond-and-cream tarts that run through English cookery from the seventeenth century onward, where ground almonds could stand in for the richness of cream on fast days and later simply because they tasted of luxury. "Jordan" almonds, despite the name, are usually traced not to the country but to the French jardin, garden, by way of Middle English jardyne almaunde, though the derivation is not settled. The cracker crumbs are a thoroughly domestic touch, the same thrift that put rolled cracker into scalloped oysters and fish balls.