It’s in my arsenal of looks-and-tastes-super-gourmet-yet-is-unbelievably-easy recipes. A few years ago I served this as part of a dessert spread at a wedding I catered and everyone was asking me about it. One woman asked if I would email her the recipe and when I obliged and word got out, the list started circulating its way around the reception. At the end of the night I got an entire sheet full of names of people requesting it.
You’ll notice that although it’s called an “Almond Toffee Tart” there’s no actual toffee in the recipe. That’s because it’s a magical tart. You toss together a simple filling and while it’s in the oven the little tart faries come and turn that filling into a chewy, caramelized, toffee-like substance. Amazing! You’ll need a tart pan with removable sides for this recipe. Honestly, if you buy the pan just for this dessert, it will be money well spent! The pastry dough comes together in minutes, and you can use a food processor. You just need real butter (no exceptions), flour, and a couple of egg yolks.
You can use a food processor, or a pastry cutter to cut them together until crumbs form. Make sure there are pea-sized chunks of butter in there to help you get a flaky crust. Press the dough into the tart pan and up the sides.
Pop it in the oven and bake for 10 minutes. While the pastry is baking, you can whip up the filling. It’s so simple and easy. You just heat up some whipping cream and sugar on the stove top.
After it simmers for a few minutes, take it off the heat and add almond extract and fresh orange zest. Next goes in a bunch of sliced almonds. The original recipe didn’t call for toasting the almonds, but I started doing that a few years ago and loved the flavor and texture even more.
That’s all there is to the filling! You might think the soupy consistency is strange, but that’s how it should be.
Use a spoon to spread out the almonds so they’re in a nice layer and that’s all there is to it. You’ll bake it for about 45-55 minutes. All ovens are different so just keep an eye on it at the end. When it’s in the oven the sugar and cream will caramelize and turn into that soft chewy caramel-toffee-ish goodness. It should look about like this when it’s done. The color should be that light caramel color and around the edges should be deeper golden brown.
Let it cool on a wire rack and you’ll see the color and appearance morph into this, which is exactly how it should look:
This is one of those rare desserts that really needs to cool completely to be at its best. I try to make it several hours before I’m going to serve it for the best flavor and texture. In fact, I think it improves over time, so I make it as early in the day as I can. I wish you could all have a bite of this so you could understand the flavor and texture. The crust is buttery and flaky and melts in your mouth. The top of the tart is slightly chewy, yet soft in the middle and the flavor of the caramelized sugar and cream with hints of almond and orange is just out of this world. I actually don’t think it necessarily needs whipped cream, but it looks pretty and well, everything seems to be better with a little whip on top. This can also serve a lot of people. Because it’s sweet and rich, you can get away with thin slices. Or you can eat like, seven thin slices yourself. I dare you not to.
