Almond shortcrust pastry is a fantastic base for preparing cookies, pies, and tartlets. Very simple to make, it is extremely versatile, and can be flavored with almond extract, vanilla, lemon, orange, or cinnamon to obtain many different flavors with just one dough.
I love shortcrust pastry and use it a lot, especially in autumn and winter; there’s nothing better than a tray of homemade cookies to start the day right.
To prepare the almond shortcrust, I started from the sablée recipe by Valerio Barralis and made a few modifications to give you weights suitable for home production; it is made with the “sanding” method, which allows you to obtain a very crumbly final product suitable even for perforated molds.
The process is simple but it is necessary to respect temperatures and short working times; otherwise, the risk is to obtain hard and unappealing products; follow the instructions in the recipe.
Try also the other pastry bases:
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Economical
- Rest time: 1 Hour
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: for 590 g of shortcrust pastry
- Cooking methods: No cooking
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons, Autumn, Winter, and Spring
- Energy 437.94 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 48.44 (g) of which sugars 19.25 (g)
- Proteins 7.33 (g)
- Fat 24.39 (g) of which saturated 11.82 (g)of which unsaturated 6.64 (g)
- Fibers 2.22 (g)
- Sodium 84.07 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 100 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup almond flour
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 medium eggs (whole, equivalent to just under 1 medium egg)
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest (grated or other flavors as desired)
- Half pod vanilla
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Tools
- 1 Stand Mixer
- 1 Scale
- Plastic Wrap
Procedure
The almond shortcrust pastry can be kneaded by hand or with a stand mixer, choose the method you prefer.
To prepare a sandy shortcrust, the butter must be at a temperature of 50°F; if you store it in the fridge door, you can use it without leaving it at room temperature. If you store it on the coldest shelf, leave it at room temperature for 10 minutes.
Put the all-purpose flour, almond flour, and butter cut into small cubes in a stand mixer equipped with a paddle attachment. Work the mixture at medium speed until it resembles sand.
Turn off the stand mixer and add the powdered sugar, salt, lemon zest, and vanilla seed, then mix and add the egg. Turn on the stand mixer and knead the ingredients quickly, just long enough to combine them; this way, we won’t form gluten bonds, and your cookies will be very crumbly.
Pour the mixture onto the work surface and work it quickly until you get a smooth dough.
Wrap it in plastic wrap and place it in the fridge to rest for 1 hour.
The almond shortcrust pastry is ready to use.
How to knead by hand
The process is identical; you’ll need to pay attention to the sanding because your hands will heat the butter quickly, so you’ll need to work the all-purpose flour, almond flour, and butter rapidly.
Follow exactly the same steps by kneading the shortcrust in a large bowl.
After resting, take the shortcrust and work it on the pastry board or in the stand mixer for 1 minute; this operation will serve to have a homogeneous and plastic dough.
The shortcrust can be used to make cookies, tartlets, pies, and mini pies; each preparation will have different cooking times based on the thickness you have chosen.
For cookies
Roll out the shortcrust (it must be well chilled) to a thickness of 1/8 inch and cut out the desired shapes. Place the cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, chill well in the fridge, and bake in a preheated static oven for about 12/15 minutes, depending on the power of your oven.For pies and mini pies
To make pies and mini pies, the thickness should be 1/8 inch. Roll out the chilled shortcrust and line the molds you have available.
If you want to make an empty tartlet, 12 minutes at 350°F will be enough.
If you want to make a pie crust (blind baking), it will take about 20/25 minutes at 350°F.
If you want to bake a filled pie, the baking time depends on the filling you have chosen and its moisture, so there are no precise times.
Tips
Storage
The almond shortcrust can be stored in the fridge well-sealed for 10 days if you have used fresh ingredients like butter and eggs.
It can be frozen for 2 months but must be well sealed.
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