Speculaas Tart With Almond Filling

Recipe Ingredients

		Dough
2 3/4 cups	171g / 6oz	All-purpose flour
2 teaspoons	10ml	Ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon	5ml	Ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon	2.5ml	Salt
1/2 teaspoon	2.5ml	Baking powder
1/4 teaspoon	1.3ml	Ground nutmeg
1 cup	198g / 7oz	Unsalted butter - (2 sticks) - room temperature
1 cup	160g / 5.6oz	Dark brown sugar - (packed)
1 cup	198g / 7oz	Egg (large)
		Filling
1 1/2 cups	139g / 4.9oz	Blanched slivered almonds - (abt 6 oz)
3/4 cup	148g / 5.2oz	Sugar
1/4 cup	49g / 1.7oz	Unsalted butter - (1/2 stick) - room temperature
1 cup	198g / 7oz	Egg (large)
2 teaspoons	10ml	Grated lemon peel
2 teaspoons	10ml	Fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon	5ml	Vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon	3.8ml	Almond extract
		Powdered sugar
		Apricot preserves

Recipe Instructions

For Dough: Sift first 6 ingredients into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter and sugar in large bowl until blended. Beat in egg. Add flour mixture and beat until moist clumps form. Gather dough into ball; divide into 2 pieces, 1 slightly larger than the other. Flatten dough into disks; wrap and chill at least 2 hours. (Can be made 2 days ahead; keep chilled. Soften slightly before rolling.)

For Filling: Blend first 8 ingredients in processor until nuts are finely chopped. Transfer to small bowl. Cover; chill at least 2 hours and up to 2 days.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter 9-inch-diameter springform pan. Roll out larger dough piece on lightly floured surface to 13-inch round. Transfer to pan and press gently over bottom and up sides, pressing any tears together. Spread filling in dough. Trim dough on sides to 1/2 inch above level of filling. Fold dough in over filling.

Roll out second dough disk on lightly floured surface to 12- to 13-inch round. Using bottom of cake pan as aid, cut out 9-inch-diameter round of dough. Slide dough round onto plate and freeze 5 minutes to firm. Reserve dough scraps for cookies. Place chilled dough round on tart; press to adhere and seal edges.

Bake tart until crust is brown, about 50 minutes. Remove sides of springform pan; cool tart completely on pan bottom. Maintain oven temperature. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll out dough scraps on lightly floured surface to scant 1/4-inch thickness. Using 2-inch gingerbread-man cutter, cut out cookies. Transfer cutouts to prepared sheets. Repeat, using all of dough.

Bake cookies until golden, about 8 minutes. Cool cookies on sheets. (Tart and cookies can be made ahead; cover and store at room temperature 1 day or refrigerate up to 3 days.) Sift powdered sugar over top of tart. Place small dab of preserves on back of 1 cookie; place at top edge of tart. Repeat with more cookies, forming border around tart. Transfer tart to platter. Let stand at room temperature at least 1 hour.

This recipe yields 12 to 16 servings.

Source:
Bon Appetit, December 2001

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