Almond Cheesecakes

A small almond tart in the eighteenth-century manner, despite the name: there is no cheese or curd in it at all. The original assumes you know how long to bake a tray of filled patty-pans, so the numbers below fill the gap.

• No cheese involvedLong before this book was printed, "cheesecake" was being used in English cookery for any small open tart with a rich filling baked in pastry, curd or no curd. Expect something closer to a frangipane or a Bakewell filling than to a modern baked cheesecake.
• WeightsTwo ounces of almonds is about 55 g; a quarter pound each of butter and sugar is about 115 g each. Use caster sugar, which dissolves into the melted butter and yolks without grittiness.
• Blanched and poundedGround almonds or almond flour will do, but the texture is better if you blanch whole almonds and grind them yourself, stopping while a little coarseness remains. A pinch of the sugar in the grinder keeps them from turning oily.
• The eggsFour yolks and two whites gives a filling that sets softly rather than firmly. Whisk the whites only to break them up, not to a foam; this is a rich custard, not a sponge.
• "A little wine and brandy"A tablespoon of each is in keeping — sweet sherry, madeira or a white wine. More liquid than that and the filling weeps in the pastry case.
• Lemon rindPare the zest with no white pith and pound or rub it into the sugar rather than grating it in loose; the original's "finely pounded" is about releasing the oil, which is where the flavour lives.
• Patty-pansThese are shallow tartlet tins — a 12-hole bun or muffin tin works. Line with puff pastry rolled thin, fill about two-thirds full, and expect roughly a dozen.
• Oven and timeBake at 375-400F (190-200C) for 20-25 minutes, until the pastry has risen and coloured and the centres are just set with a slight wobble. Overbaked, the yolk-heavy filling curdles and pulls away from the crust.