No. 3326

Almondine Tartlets

Tartelettes Amandines

Have some tart paste (No. 149) and with it line some tartlet molds; prick the paste and cover the bottoms with apricot marmalade (No. 3675). Cut up finely four ounces of peeled almonds; dry them in the oven and then roast to a fine color; when cold pound with half a pound of powdered sugar, and pour this into a vessel to beat with a spoon, incorporating into it one egg-yolk and three whites, having the whole slightly creamy, then add four ounces of chopped candied peel. Fill the lined molds three-quarters full with this preparation, bestrew sugar over the tops and cook in a slack oven; glaze well with sugar before removing.

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For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer's tartlets are essentially a frangipane made with toasted almonds rather than raw, which is what gives them their color and depth. The instructions assume a professional pastry section, so a few of the terms need translating.

Slack ovenA slack or cool oven is usually taken to mean roughly 300-325F. The filling is rich rather than airy and will crack and dry if pushed hotter; around 30 to 35 minutes at 325F should suit a 2 1/2-inch mold.
Tart paste (No. 149)Ranhofer's tart paste is a sweetened short paste; any pâte sucrée or sweet shortcrust will stand in. The shells are not blind-baked; pricking keeps the bottoms from lifting under the jam.
Apricot marmaladeIn this book marmalade means a thick, sieved fruit paste, not the citrus preserve. Use a stiff apricot jam, sieved and reduced a little if loose, or it will boil up through the filling.
Grinding the almondsPound the cooled toasted almonds with the sugar rather than alone — the sugar absorbs the oil and keeps the mixture from turning to butter. A food processor pulsed in short bursts does the same job.
The egg proportionsOne yolk to three whites is deliberate: the whites lighten a mixture that is already rich with almond and sugar. They are beaten in whole, not whipped separately, so the result is dense and slightly chewy rather than airy.
Candied peelFour ounces of chopped candied peel; the recipe does not say which, and candied citron, orange or lemon would all fit. Buy whole candied peel and chop it yourself if you can, rather than using ready-mixed.
Glazing with sugarSugar strewn on top and "glazed well" means the tops are caramelized at the end — a moment under a hot broiler, watched closely, or a brief return to a hot oven. Do this before the tartlets leave the molds, as instructed, while the pastry is still supported.
YieldThe quantities should fill about a dozen to sixteen tartlet molds of 2 1/2 to 3 inches. Fill only three-quarters full, as instructed.

A Little History

Tartelettes amandines belong to the family of French almond pastries built on frangipane, the almond-and-egg cream well established in French pastry work by the eighteenth century; the name is traditionally traced to an Italian perfumer, Frangipani, though the story is repeated more often than it is documented. Charles Ranhofer, chef at Delmonico's in New York, published The Epicurean in 1894 as a complete record of the restaurant's repertoire, and his section of petits gâteaux pour entremets is a catalogue of the small sweets sent out with the dessert course. What distinguishes this version is the roasting of the almonds before pounding — frangipane is more usually made with raw almonds — which trades the pale, delicate result for something browner and nuttier, closer to a praline. The candied peel places it in the older confectionery tradition, where preserved citrus was a mark of expense rather than an afterthought.