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Dessert

Almond Tarts

A baked tart made with eggs, almonds, powdered sugar, chocolate, cracker dust, and baking powder, topped with whipped cream and candied fruit.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and chocolate are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,733 recipes. Both carry 2,3-pentanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Almond Tarts

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Make the batter

  1. Beat the yolks of the eggs until very thick.

  2. Gradually add the powdered sugar.

  3. Fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites.

  4. Add the cracker dust, grated chocolate, chopped almonds, and baking powder.

Bake and fill

  1. Bake in gem pans at 350°F (175°C) until set.

  2. When cool, remove the centers and fill with whipped cream.

  3. Garnish with candied fruit.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Almond + chocolatetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,733 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Chocolate + creamtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Almond + creamtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,130 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Egg whites add lift and structure, while the yolks enrich the batter and help it set.
Almonds
Provide body, nutty flavor and a tender crumb that holds the tart's shape.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the batter and dissolves easily, giving a fine, smooth texture.
Cracker dust
Adds dry bulk to the batter, giving the tarts structure as they set.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking so the tarts rise and become lighter.
Grated chocolate
Adds richness and flavor, and melts into the batter as it bakes.

The step that matters

Fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites. Folding gently keeps the air beaten into the whites, which gives the batter its lift. Stirring hard deflates the foam and leaves dense tarts.

Swap the almond

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, chocolate, cream):

  1. Almondthe original
  2. Hazelnutfits about as well
  3. Pecansfits about as well
  4. Pistachiofits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, chocolate, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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