Norwegian Cardamom Almond Tart

Norwegian Cardamom-Almond Tart

I hope everyone had a nice Christmas! I spent Christmas Eve cooking, no surprises here , and everything turned out great. This year, I didn’t have much time to plan the menu, so I just decided on some BA dishes while at the supermarket since the Epicurious ap made it easy to shop for ingredients. Unless, I am cooking for a crowd, one my requirements is for fewest herbs (fresh herbs are great, but most of the time you only need a few sprigs) and uncommon/hard to find ingredients. Even ingredients that you think are easy to find, sometime pose a challenge…you can’t imagine how hard I had to search for dried apples for my piggy roast last year! Compared to that, this year’s shopping was a breeze

On Christmas day, I got to open my presents from Santa and even got to try the cold weather running accessories I received as we got a nice layer of snow! I had an awesome time running in the snow!

post-run in the snow

The best part about outdoor runs, is seeing the birds and squirrels running around during my cool down walk. This time there were at least five cardinals playing around! I think they are gorgeous, especially on top of the white snow

cardinal in the snow

Now, back to the food. For dessert, I picked this tart since I love almonds and my cardamom cookies were soo good, that I knew this has to be a nice combination of ingredients. Also, I made a Swedish almond cake before and it was delicious…and Norway is one of my favorite countries in the world

Yes, I know it’s in a pie dish, but I was too lazy to look for my tart pan, which I haven’t used in years! The space I can reach in the kitchen is limited, so I keep it stocked with only the most used items/ingredients

Ingredients (serves ~ 8):

• crust: 1 1/4 cups flour, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp cardamom, pinch of salt, 1 stick unsalted butter, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 egg yolk, 2 tsp heavy whipping cream
• 2 cups almond meal
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tsp cardamom
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 3 large egg whites (one from the crust)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 egg yolk

For the crust, beat butter until softened, add sugar and beat until fluffy. Beat in the egg yolk and cream. Beat in the dry ingredients gradually. Shape the dough into a ball, break off a quarter. Shape the two portions into balls, wrap in plastic and chill for a few hours or overnight. 

Remove dough from the fridge. Break the large disk into pieces in your pie/tart dish. Using your fingers and the bottom of a measuring cup, press the dough until it becomes a homogenous piece.

tart dough

Place parchment paper on a baking sheet. Roll out the small disk and using your favorite holiday cutters, cut out different shapes and place them in the baking sheet.

cut outs for tart top

Chill both pans for about an hour.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Mix all the dry ingredients for the filling in a medium bowl. Whisk the egg whites and vanilla until soft peaks form (you want the egg whites to keep their shape, but not beat them too hard). Fold the egg whites into the dry ingredients gently.

tart filling

Place tart filling into the tart shell.

filled tart shell

Top with the cut out dough pieces.

filled tart topped with dough cut outs

In a small bowl, whisk one egg yolk with 2 tsp water. Brush the top of the tart with the egg wash.

Bake for 35 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Let cool and enjoy!

This tart was delicious as both a dinner dessert and morning coffee sweet! We’ve been enjoying this for a few days now, and it still taste great!

The remaining of my meal, will be documented in future posts. Stay tuned

What desserts did you enjoy for Christmas?

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