A Rich Almond Tart!

I am always worried about cakes and biscuits being fattening when I bake, so I take extra care not to add too much of butter and sugar, when it can be substituted with other ingredients. This weekend I tried my hand at the lovely Almond tart and decided to indulge a little, I put my calorie conscious mind behind and started off. This recipe was shared by a friend, I have altered it a little and it gave pretty good results, its not my own or inspiration, it just so happened that I did not have the ground rice as the the original recipe demanded and I used only ground almond instead.  I also took a short cut by buying using a store bought short crust pastry, but though this was good to share for some one who wants to set out baking. I must admit this is not a guilt free treat, but with Valentine just round the corner you can impress your loved one with this excellent dessert and a glass of nice red or a rose! So here is what you need:

1. 100 gms of short crust pastry.
2. 150 gms of ground almonds
3. Jam of your choice, I used a whole blueberry marmalade.
4. Flaked almonds to garnish
5. 100 gms butter
6. 1 large egg
7. A dash of Almond extract or amaretto, this takes the tart to a whole new level and accentuates the almond flavour.
8. 75 gms of golden caster sugar, you can use normal sugar if you don't have this.

Some simple steps to make it:

1. Roll out the pastry thinly and line the pastry tin or any oven safe deep dish.
2. Spread the marmalade / jam generously.
3. Beat butter, eggs, almond extract and sugar till its nice and creamy. Add ground almonds and mix well.
4. Pour the almond mix over the prepared tin with Jam.
5. Sprinkle almonds generously.
6. Bake the tart at gas mark 5 or 180 degrees Celsius for 25-30 mins. Please keep checking after 20 mins depending on how hot the oven gets. Once you are happy with the golden crust and the knife comes out clean when you do a knife test, turn off the oven.

Let the tart cool off completely before you serve else it will crumble, this is a super fine and rich pastry so tends to crumble easily. While baking if the Jam oozes out, do not panic it only tastes better :)

Have a sweet Valentines day :)