Peter Gordon

Sweet Nutty Pastry

Preparation info

    • Difficulty

      Medium

Appears in

A World in My Kitchen

A World in My Kitchen

By Peter Gordon

Published 2003

  • About

The following is based on an Alastair Little recipe which, in turn, was inspired by a recipe of Roger Verge’s in Cuisine of the Sun. It will make two shells, which freeze well and can be cooked straight from the freezer without blind baking. What I like about it is that you don’t actually roll out the pastry, you just slice it and press it into the tin.

Ingredients

  • 100 g (3 ½ oz) caster sugar
  • 70 g (2 ⅓ oz) ground almonds
  • pinch salt
  • 340 g (11 ½ oz) plain flour
  • 260 g (8 ⅔ oz) unsalted butter, diced into cubes
  • 1 whole egg, plus 1 extra yolk
  • ½ teaspoon grated lemon zest
  • 2 teaspoons vodka or gin or vanilla essence

    Method

    Put sugar, almonds, salt and flour into a food processor and blitz for a few seconds. Add butter and blitz again until just blended in. The mixture will resemble fine breadcrumbs. Add egg and extra yolk, lemon zest, alcohol and blitz again until the dough just combines. Tip out onto a sheet of plastic wrap, gently knead for a few seconds only, then roll up to form a cylinder with a diameter of 6–8 cm (2 ½–3 in. Chill for at least 3 hours before using.

    To use, simply take from the fridge, leave to soften for 10 minutes, then slice into ⅓ cm (1/8 in) thick discs and place these in the tart tin, slightly overlapping. Press them together to fill in any spaces and try to make it reasonably even. Place back in the fridge for 45 minutes (or 20 minutes in a freezer) before baking at 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4. You won’t need to blind bake it using beans and paper unless you’re making a very deep tart that is more than 6 cm (2 ½ in) deep.