Happy Valentine's Day!

Wishing all of you everywhere a very lovely Valentine’s Day from Steve and myself.

Take good care, keep up the good work and imagine what spring and summer may bring us this year. We can only hope.

Here’s to cozy celebrations at home with the ones you love.

Cherry almond Bakewell tartelettes

Let me just say that there’s nothing like the satisfaction of making a stellar tart. Just the right well baked, crisp and golden crust, the beautiful marriage of fruit with almond cream and a tempting garnish of toasted nuts. Mmmmmm!

Anything with almonds (or nuts in general) is a winner in my book. There are various almond based fillings that one may come across in the baking and pastry world, particularly in Scandinavia, Britain and Northern Europe. Many regions of the globe have their own love affair with almonds and the goods you can create with them.

The terms frangipane and almond cream (crème de amandes en Français) are often used interchangeably but, depending on where you are, they might mean slightly different things. In my Parisian schooling we were taught that frangipane is actually a blend of crème d’amandes and crème pâtissière (used for example in galettes des roi), whereas the term in Britain and Italy (and I’m sure many other countries) refers to what the French call crème d’amandes on its own.

Both will work nicely when making fruit or jam almond tarts, although more typically it’s crème d’amandes that fills the bill (or the tart shell - ha!).

Of course there are beaucoup des tartes one might create - anything from chocolate ganache to zesty, pucker-y lemon-lime as well as the classic almond cream/fruit combos that one sees in most pâtisseries In Paris and beyond. Think pear, fig/raspberry, plum (the mirabelle is a favorite), cherry, apricot or essentially any fruit or combo thereof you might imagine. So many tarts, so little time!

I usually bake tarts, whether large or small, in smooth edged open tart rings. The absence of a metal base allows for more thorough baking of the crust which is better exposed to the oven heat. Plus I like the simplicity of the straight sided, smooth finished tart. It speaks to me.

Buuuut . . . . . If I’m in the mood for a fluted edge, I have the option of removable bottom tart forms vs. solid bottom versions, in which case, depending on the filling, blind baking may come into play. While I love small brioche type tins for tarts, a well baked bottom can be elusive unless you blind bake first then fill and bake to finish.

News flash! I’ve had a Eureka moment in preparation for this post - the oven stone - yay! Prior to this recent discovery, my tendency was to use the open rings or remove the bottom of the fluted pans so as to be sure that my bottom crust baked thoroughly. My experience has shown, particularly with the almond fruit type tarts, that led to a successful bake. Can’t have a soggy bottom now, can we.

The Bakewell tart is generally associated with England and the town of Bakewell in Derbyshire. Many say it’s a variation on the Bakewell pudding which has more of a jam/custard filling baked in puff pastry or a bottom sponge type cake. The tart version is typically made with an all butter short crust (as the Brits would say) and a jam/almond cream filling. Many recipes use raspberry jam but I decided on cherry from my favorite jam maker Bonne Maman.

I intentionally approached this one to see how well my pâte sucrée would bake in both closed bottom brioche tins and open tart rings. For my first go, I lined my forms and assembled the tarts with a dollop of jam in the bottom and almond cream piped over it. Don’t overfill since the almond cream does puff up during baking.

I baked them on my heated baking stone on which I had also heated a second sheet pan, thinking this would give even better heat transference. Ahhhh . . . . not so.

After a 20-25 minute bake at 325ºF (convection), the almond cream was set and lightly golden and the crust edges looked browned.

The bottom crust of the open ringed tarts was nicely browned, however, the solid bottom brioche tin tart bottoms were not baked all the way through (take my word for it). Fortunately I removed them from the tins and popped them back into the oven, baking another 5-10 minutes for well baked bottoms.

A confectioner’s sugar glaze, a ring of lightly candied sliced almonds and some tart dried cherry bits in the center finished them off.

I have one word for you - delicious. While I thought the glaze was too sweet for our tastes (I admit I put it on a bit too thick), this is one stellar tart. Just the right marriage of jam and almond goodness; and the crunch of the candied almonds gives it that wonderful textural contrast.

But wait! Not quite finished. My results pushed me to give it one more go. This time I blind baked both an open ringed crust and a closed bottom brioche tin crust. Once cooled, I panned those up with non-blind baked versions. The assembly and baking were the same with one exception - I ditched the second baking sheet and put my sheet pan directly on the heated baking stone.

Here are the results. The blind baked crusts on the left are a bit browner but the other two look pretty darn good too.

And check out the bottoms! Not bad at all - no barely baked bottoms here.

This time I lightened up my glaze, giving two of the tarts just a light brushing. For a bit of visual comparison the other two got a light dusting of powdered sugar. I stuck the candied almonds around the edges with a bit of glaze et voilà! Steve and I liked these just as much as the first batch.

The lesson: no need for a second sheet pan heated on the stone - it actually seems to have reduced the heat transference, leaving my brioche tin crusts under baked.

The second batch benefited from the consistent heat coming from the baking stone allowing for excellent browning even without first blind baking. Yippee!

One quick note: in general, when baking a tart with a very loose or liquid-y filling, I typically blind bake first. The oven stone may change that perhaps?? We’ll see.

I’ll leave you with a final wintry scene looking out our front door. That’s our metal sculpture, Clarence the praying mantis, peeking out of the snow.

Be safe, remain steady and let’s make it to spring in good shape!