Skip to main content
Dessert

Almond Tarts

Almond tarts are baked pastries filled with a mixture of eggs, sugar, and almonds.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the filling

  1. Beat the yolks of the eggs until creamy.

  2. Add the sugar and beat vigorously.

  3. Pound the almonds slightly and mix them with the egg and sugar mixture.

Bake and finish

  1. Line patty pans with pastry and fill them with the mixture.

  2. Bake for 8 minutes at 400°F (200°C).

  3. Beat the egg whites until stiff, then add 2 teaspoons of sugar.

  4. Spread the egg whites on top of the tarts and brown them in the oven.

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. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

  3. Egg + almondtop 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

Eggs
Yolks enrich the filling and help bind it into a set, custard-like texture; whites form a stiff meringue topping.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and, in the meringue, stabilizes the whipped whites and helps them brown.
Shelled almonds
Provide the main body, nutty flavor and richness of the filling.
Pastry
Forms the shell that holds the filling while it bakes.

The step that matters

Spread the egg whites on top of the tarts and brown them in the oven. Stiff whites collapse or weep if under-whipped or overmixed, and browning needs a watched oven, since sugar in the meringue darkens quickly and can scorch.

Swap the almond

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar. 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.

You might also like

Almond Sponge CakeAlmond Sponge Cake26 recipesAlmond CustardAlmond Custard22 recipesAlmond WafersAlmond Wafers22 recipesCoconut Almond CakeCoconut Almond Cake17 recipes