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Almond Tarts

Almond tarts made with almond paste, sugar, egg whites, pastry dough, and jam.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,679 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓

Almond Tarts

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Prepare patty shells using sweet pastry dough.

Make the filling

  1. In a bowl, rub together the granulated sugar and almond paste until well combined.

  2. Add the egg whites and mix until smooth.

Fill and bake

  1. Place a little jam in the center of each shell.

  2. Fill the shells with the almond mixture.

  3. Cover with a thin layer of dough.

  4. Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown.

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. Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  2. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Almond + eggtop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,645 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Granulated sugar
Sweetens the filling and helps it turn smooth and tender when rubbed with the almond paste.
Almond paste
Provides the main almond flavor and a dense, moist body to the filling.
Egg whites
Add moisture and structure, helping the filling set and hold together as it bakes.
Sweet pastry dough
Forms the shell and top crust that hold the filling during baking.
Jam
Adds fruity sweetness and moisture beneath the almond filling.

The step that matters

Bake until golden brown. Baking long enough sets the egg whites and filling and browns the crust. Underbaking leaves the filling wet and soft, while overbaking dries it out and darkens the pastry too much.

Swap the almond

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

  1. Pecansfits about as well
  2. Almondthe original
  3. Chestnutfits about as well
  4. Milletfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg. 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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