Speculaas Tart With Almond Filling

Submitted by alligirl

"This recipe looks spectacular! Use a two-inch gingerbread-man cutter to make the cookies for the topping. Taken from Epicurious.com and posted for ZWT."

 

• Ready In: 1hr 30mins
• Ingredients: 19
• Yields: 1 tart
• Serves: 12-16

ingredients

• Dough

• 2 3⁄4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1⁄4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1 large egg

• Filling

• 1 1⁄2 cups blanched slivered almonds (about 6 ounces)
• 3⁄4 cup sugar
• 1⁄4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3⁄4 teaspoon almond extract
• powdered sugar
• apricot preserves

directions

1. For filling:.
2. Blend first 8 ingredients in processor until nuts are finely chopped.
3. Transfer to small bowl.
4. Cover; chill at least 2 hours and up to 2 days.
5. For dough:.
6. Sift first 6 ingredients into medium bowl.
7. Using electric mixer, beat butter and sugar in large bowl until blended; beat in egg.
8. Add flour mixture and beat until moist clumps form.
9. Gather dough into ball; divide into 2 pieces, 1 slightly larger than the other. Flatten dough into disks; wrap and chill at least 2 hours. (Can be made 2 days ahead; keep chilled. Soften slightly before rolling.).
10. Preheat oven to 325°F
11. Butter 9-inch-diameter springform pan.
12. Roll out larger dough piece on lightly floured surface to 13-inch round. Transfer to pan and press gently over bottom and up sides, pressing any tears together.
13. Spread filling in dough.
14. Trim dough on sides to 1/2 inch above level of filling.
15. Fold dough in over filling.
16. Roll out second dough disk on lightly floured surface to 12- to 13-inch round.
17. Using bottom of cake pan as aid, cut out 9-inch-diameter round of dough. Slide dough round onto plate and freeze 5 minutes to firm. (Reserve dough scraps for cookies.)
18. Place chilled dough round on tart; press to adhere and seal edges.
19. Bake tart until crust is brown, about 50 minutes.
20. Remove sides of springform pan; cool tart completely on pan bottom. Maintain oven temperature.
21. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
22. Roll out dough scraps on lightly floured surface to scant 1/4-inch thickness.
23. Using 2-inch gingerbread-man cutter, cut out cookies.
24. Transfer cutouts to prepared sheets. Repeat, using all of dough.
25. Bake cookies until golden, about 8 minutes. Cool cookies on sheets. (Tart and cookies can be made ahead; cover and store at room temperature 1 day or refrigerate up to 3 days.).
26. Sift powdered sugar over top of tart.
27. Place small dab of preserves on back of 1 cookie; place at top edge of tart; repeat with more cookies, forming border around tart.
28. Transfer tart to platter.
29. Let stand at room temperature at least 1 hour.

Reviews

[Kitchen__Princess]

Made this a few days ago and it is already gone! This is fabulous and I am keeping this in the back of my mind for Christmas. I come from a dutch background and it reminded me of something my Oma used to make. The only thing I may change in the future is the spices - I looked at recipes for speculaas spice mix which also include cardamom and white pepper so i may try adding those in next time (as the recipe as stated didn't quite have the right mix). I also decorated with whole blanched almonds on top and added an egg yolk wash over it. Didn't use powdered sugar at all.

 

[Thymestudio]

Just what I was looking for!! I love almond desserts and this was perfect for me! No trouble to prepare at all and the results were so worth it. Will be making again when I need my almond tart fix! ZWT6