Italian almond tart

The dessert you need to be making to impress all your guests - an Italian almond tart with homemade cherry compote. Buttery crust layered with a homemade cherry compote or cherry jam, and a rich and creamy frangipane almond filling. A few almonds sprinkled on top and you've got a gorgeous tart full of flavor and texture that everyone will love.

I have been making this almond tart for over 30 years (which btw is insane to me that I am old enough to say that. It holds a special place in my heart as one of the first things I learned to how to bake.

While it is not as impressive looking as my peanut butter cheesecake or Ferrero Rocher cake, it still a beautiful and simple tart that packs in so much flavor.

Why you'll love this recipe

• Easy to make. The tart filling is quick and easy to make and has minimal ingredients.
• There are simple store bought ingredients you can use to make this extra simple. Use store bought cherry jam or preserves, and of course you can totally use a store bought pie crust (I do).
• The texture of an Italian almond tart is really nice. It is kind of a cross between a cake and a tart. The filling is baked with eggs which gives it sort of a custardy texture (like a tart). But the almond paste use to make the frangipane filling bakes up thick, almost cake-like.

Ingredients

Super minimal ingredients for sure. And I am willing to bet that most (especially if you're a baker already) you have on hand.

• Pie crust. Using a good, buttery crust really makes an Italian almond tart extra delicious. But I do know that making pie crust can be daunting to a lot of people, so if you don't want to make one, I highly recommend Trader Joe's pie crust. It is made with butter and it is the closest to homemade you will ever find.. And if you don't believe me here read this and this) And here is a great recipe for pastry crust that I use all the time, in case you don't have a favorite.
• Almond paste. This is one ingredient you may not keep around unless you are a baker (here is the one I have and you use the entire thing in this recipe). I always have some in the cabinet (maybe in case I make this, I don't really know why else I keep it on hand). This is not the same as frangipane, which is more like an almond cream. This is basically marzipan. It is super thick and made with sugar and almonds ground together. It is super nutty and aromatic, as the grinding process releases the natural oil in the almonds.
• Butter. Cause it is a cross between a cake and a custard.
• Flour. See above.
• Eggs.
• Sugar. Just a little. There is already sugar in the almond paste.
• Salt. Just a pinch, because, well, salt.
• Cherry jam or compote. I make a killer cherry compote that I use in this all the time.
• Almonds. The sliced ones for the top. That's how we fancy this sh-t up!

Ingredient swaps and variations

• Use a different flavor of jam. This Italian almond tart recipe is absolutely delicious with all kinds of jams. Strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, orange...the possibilities are endless!
• Serve warm with some ice cream. While I most often serve this tart at room temperature, when it is slightly warmed with a little ice cream, you will be in heaven.

Tips for success

• Cut the almond paste into pieces before adding. If you dump the whole block in the mixer at one time, it will be messy. Sh-t will fly out all over the place.
• Try to use room temp everything. So when working with room temp butter in baking, you really want everything to be room temp so you don't make the butter cold and chunky or make it melty and runny. And by everything, I am really talking about the eggs. Eggs are usually kept in the fridge. If you forgot to take them out of fridge to come up to temp, no problem. Fill a bowl with decently warm water and put the whole eggs in there for about 10 minutes. This will take the chill out.

Italian almond tart

This simple and elegant Italian almond tart with a layer of cherry compote is buttery, nutty and delicious.

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Servings: 0

Author: Katie Beck

Ingredients

• 1 recipe of your favorite pie crust or one already prepared store-bought crust
• 1 stick of unsalted butter room temp (if using salted butter, eliminate the pinch of salt)
• ½ pound almond paste see notes above in filling ingredients, cut into chunks
• ¼ cup sugar
• 2 eggs at room temp
• ⅓ cup flour
• pinch of salt
• ¾ cup of your favorite jam or preserves traditional and my personal fave is sour cherry
• ¼ cup sliced almonds

Instructions

• Heat oven to 350
• Press the pastry dough into a 9-inch tart pan (the kind with a removable bottom). Take your jam and spread across thhe pie crust. YOu want a good thick layer, so if you want to use a little extra, I wouldn't say no. Put the dough in the fridge while you make the rest.
• In the bowl of your electric mixer (use the whisk attachment for this one), or a bowl for a hand mixer, beat the butter until smooth. With the mixer on low, add the chunks of almond paste, one at a time, mixing each in before adding the next. Keep mixing on low and add the sugar. Then add the eggs one at a time. Add the pinch of salt. Turn the mixer on medium and beat well, to thoroughly combine. Turn back to low and stir in the flour just until combined.
• Spoon the almond mixture on top of the jam and spread evenly and smooth. Bake this for about 40 minutes. The top should be firm to the touch and evenly puffed (not a big puff, just a little).
• Cool on wire rack completely before serving.

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