No. 3330

Columbia Tartlets

Tartelettes a la Columbia

Pound four ounces of almonds with five ounces of sugar, afterward adding a gill and a quarter of milk; grind the whole to obtain a fine paste, put it into a vessel, add four ounces of sifted flour and four very stiffly beaten egg-whites. Line some tartlet molds with parings of puff paste (No. 146); cover the bottoms with a little apple marmalade (No. 3674), fill with the preparation and strew sugar over the tops; bake in a medium oven.

← No. 3329 Cherry Tartlets Small Cakes for Entremets No. 3331 Demonet Tartlets →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer writes for a professional pastry section, so the quantities are given by weight and the cross-references do a lot of work. The filling is essentially a flourless-leaning almond batter lightened only by egg whites, which sets the whole approach.

The hinge: fold, do not stirThe four stiffly beaten whites are the only leavening. Once the almond-sugar-milk paste has been slackened with a spoonful of white, fold the rest in cut by cut; beaten flat, the tartlets bake dense and gummy rather than light.
A gill and a quarterA gill is 4 fluid ounces in American usage, so this is 5 fl oz of milk, or 10 tablespoons. Add it to the pounded almonds gradually — the point is a smooth, spreadable paste, not a liquid.
Pounding almondsBlanched almonds ground with the sugar in a food processor give a close approximation of mortar work; the sugar helps keep the nuts from turning to butter. Ready-made almond flour with the sugar added afterwards can be used, though the texture may come out slightly drier.
Medium ovenRead this as roughly 350-375F. The tops need to colour and the sugar strewn over them to crust; much hotter and the almond batter is liable to dry out and crack.
Puff paste paringsNo. 146 is Ranhofer's puff paste, and "parings" means the trimmings left from other work — the scraps re-rolled. A commercial all-butter puff pastry, rolled thin and pressed into the molds, is the direct equivalent. Chill the lined molds before filling.
Apple marmaladeNo. 3674 is a thick reduced apple purée, closer to a stiff apple butter than to modern applesauce. A scant teaspoon per tartlet is enough; anything wet will steam the pastry base.
Molds and yieldTartlet molds of the period were generally small, on the order of 2 to 2.5 inches across. This quantity of batter should fill something like 18 to 24 of them. Bake 20-25 minutes, until set and golden at the centre.
ServingThese belong to the entremets - the sweet course - and are best eaten the day they are made, at room temperature; the pastry softens overnight.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of thirty-odd years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and its small-cake chapter reads like an inventory of a professional pastry station: dozens of tartlets differing by a filling, a garnish, or a name. Naming a dish "à la Columbia" was a period gesture toward the United States itself — though Ranhofer gives no explanation for this one. The filling belongs to a much older French family of almond-and-egg-white pastes descended from macaroon and frangipane work; the instruction to line the molds with parings puts puff-paste scraps to use.