Tartelettes Individuelles Aux Fruits, Tartelettes À La Frangipane, Tarte Linzer, Frangipane, Crème Pâtissière, Almondine, Fruit For Fruit Cake

Chef Luigi's Tartelettes À La Frangipane

Tartelettes Individuelles Aux Fruits, Tarte Linzer

While the Frangipane and Fruit Tartlets are basic assembly jobs, I found Tarte Linzer most interesting, being the oldest-known torte in the history of tortes. First recorded in 1653, this Austrian holiday classic with its characteristic lattice top consists of a hazelnut-based pastry and a filling of berry jam or preserve. Cookie sized tortes are also known as Linzer Sablés.

Happy Hour Fruits

From Bûche de Noël to Panattone to today's Fruit Cake, I do think the semester would better suit Christmassy December then the middle of February, but that's class planning for ya.

I'm no fan of fruitcake, with its tongue-numbingly sweet raisins, sultanas, currents (yew, yeew and yeeew!), glacé cherries, apricots and pineapples (yuck, yuck and yuck). Brandy is the only saving grace in this onslaught of sugar, so much so I added twice as much Brandy and an equal slug of Kirsch to hopefully drown out the sweetness and leave the mix to macerate over the weekend. I also added more pineapples and angelica to brighten up the dull appearance of the cake.

 

Mise En Places: Crème Pâtissière, Frangipane

Almondine (Egg Whites, Brown Sugar & Flaked Almond Mix)

Piping Apricot Jam & Frangipane Into Unbaked Pâte Sablée Tart Shells

Topping Off With Almondine Before Baking

Touching Up Baked Tartelettes À La Frangipane 

With Icing Sugar & Apricot Jam

Tartelettes À La Frangipane With Icing Sugar (Quite Sweet)
& Apricot Jam (Too Sweet! Way Too Sweet!!)

Assembling Tartelettes Individuelles Aux Fruits

Filling Baked Pâte Sablée With Crème Pâtissière, Fruits & Dusting Of Icing Sugar

 

Tarte Linzer Dough Mix, Chilled & Firmed Up For Easy Rolling

Butter and sugar are creamed together, orange juice and zests then added to brighten up the flavors, eggs, flour and ground hazelnut mixed in to form the heavy dough with Bi-carb for lift,  finally ground cloves, cinnamon and salt to give the Tarte Linzer its distinguished flavor.

Rolling Out Tarte Linzer Dough, Lining Tart Case & Trimming

Filling With Raspberry Jam, Topping With Dough In Lattice Pattern

Baked Tarte Linzer, Way Way After

The guys in class got to the tarte before I could take a picture of the finished products. Seriously, guys?

My Tartelettes Individuelles Aux Fruits, Tartelettes À La Frangipane, Tarte Linzer

My fruit tarts could have used more berries, but we had to make do with our ration of 1 punnet which I stretched over 8 tarts. Well if you have lemons... I sprinkled on flaked almonds before baking the frangipane tarts for a contrasting  look and added crunch and finished with apricot jam for shine and a longer shelf life. 

I like both tarts, the former for its crunchy tart shell, rich pastry cream and fresh berries, the latter for the almond paste, of coz.

This is the first time I've made Tarte Linzer, and unlike the ones I've tried in the past which were nondescript (think boring, dry jam biscuits), this recipe was a revelation: The tarte was moist and fragrant with the cloves and cinnamon, and the jam, not too much and not too sweet, was a beautiful accompaniment.

Tartelettes Individuelles Aux Fruits With Dollies On A Silver Platter: Fancy!

Sneak Peek At The Tarte Linzer, Finally :p

After School Snack: A Slab Off My Chocolate Box