The almond and orange shortcrust pastry is a crumbly and aromatic variant with which you can make cookies, tarts, and tartlets. The recipe I propose is the almond sablée by Valerio Barralis to which I have applied some small modifications to give you weights suitable for homemade production; it is made with the “sanding” method that allows obtaining a very crumbly final product also suitable for micro-perforated molds.
The sanding method involves “sanding” (making it similar to sand) the flour with the butter in order to waterproof the starch particles and the proteins of the flour, making your shortcrust, once cooked, less vulnerable to moisture; you will therefore have more crumbly tarts and cookies compared to those obtained with the traditional method.
The characteristic of the sablée is to have at least 50% butter relative to the weight of the flour, making it a perfect base for making fine and buttery cookies, ideal as Christmas gifts.
Shortcrust pastry is an important base in pastry, here are other variants for you to try:
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Rest time: 1 Hour
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: for 20.8 oz of shortcrust pastry
- Cooking methods: Electric oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
- Energy 437.94 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 48.43 (g) of which sugars 19.23 (g)
- Proteins 7.32 (g)
- Fat 24.39 (g) of which saturated 11.82 (g)of which unsaturated 6.64 (g)
- Fibers 2.20 (g)
- Sodium 84.06 (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
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- cup almond flour
- 9 tbsps butter
- 1 medium egg (slightly less than one medium egg, but weigh it!)
- orange zest (grated, requires the zest of half an orange)
- Half pod vanilla
- cup powdered sugar
- tsp salt
Tools
- 1 Stand mixer
- 1 Scale
- Plastic wrap
Procedure
The coconut shortcrust pastry can be kneaded either by hand or with a stand mixer, choose the method you prefer. The stand mixer is much more convenient because the butter doesn’t warm, which happens when we work it with our hands.
To make the almond and orange sablée, the butter should be around 50°F, so leave it at room temperature for 10/15 minutes before using.
In a stand mixer
Put the flour, almond flour, and butter cut into small cubes in the stand mixer equipped with a paddle attachment. Work the mixture at medium speed until you get a sort of sand.
Turn off the mixer and add the powdered sugar, salt, orange zest, and seeds from the vanilla pod, mix, then add the egg, kneading quickly just long enough to combine the ingredients.
Pour the mixture onto the work surface and work it quickly (to avoid gluten development) until you get a smooth dough.
Wrap it in plastic wrap and place it in the fridge to rest for 1 hour.
The almond and orange shortcrust pastry is ready for use.
By hand
The procedure is exactly the same, you will need to pay attention to the sanding because your hands will warm the butter quickly so you will need to work the all-purpose flour, almond flour, and butter quickly.
Follow exactly the same steps by kneading the shortcrust pastry in a large bowl.
After resting, take the shortcrust pastry and work it on the work surface or in the stand mixer for 1 minute, this operation will help to have a homogeneous and plastic dough perfect for making your recipes.
The shortcrust pastry can be used to make cookies, tartlets, tarts, and mini-tarts, each preparation will have a different cooking time based on the thickness you have chosen.
For cookies
Roll out the shortcrust pastry (it should be well chilled) to a thickness of ⅛ 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.If you want to make paired cookies, like Linzer cookies, I recommend rolling the shortcrust pastry to ⅛ inch and baking it a few minutes less.
Almond and orange shortcrust pastry is perfect for making Christmas cookies.
For tarts and mini-tarts
To make tarts and mini-tarts, the thickness should be ⅛ inch. Roll out the chilled shortcrust pastry and line the molds you have available.If you want to make an empty tartlet, 12 minutes at 350°F will suffice.
If you want to make a tart base (blind baking), it will take about 20/25 minutes at 350°F.
If you want to bake a filled tart, the baking time depends on the filling you have chosen and its moisture, there are no precise times.
Tips
Storage
The almond and orange shortcrust pastry can be stored in the fridge well-sealed for 10 days if you have used fresh ingredients like butter and eggs. Do not use ingredients near their expiration if you want to store the shortcrust for a long time.
It can be frozen for 2 months.
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For tips on making the recipes, contact me on FACEBOOK and if you like, follow me on INSTAGRAM
Send me your photos, I will gladly publish them on my social media
For tips on making the recipes, contact me on FACEBOOK and if you like, follow me on INSTAGRAM
Send me your photos, I will gladly publish them on my social media
