Sweet Tart Dough

This is a recipe I pulled straight from my cookbook Paris Sweets by Dorie Greenspan. (Which I love, and would encourage anyone to go out and buy) It was a pretty easy dough to make and I really liked the addition of ground blanched (I had to ask someone- "blanched" means their skins were removed) almonds in the dough, although I am sure for people with nut allergies, those could easily be omitted. It makes a lot, enough for 3 nine inch tarts, but the book suggests not cutting proportions.

The dough will keep for two days wrapped tightly in the refrigerator, or for a month in the freezer. I've made two tarts with the dough so far, and have had really good success from the start, even never having made this type of tart crust before.

I considered going all out and using the French butter, but I figured for my first try I would use regular old unsalted butter, and I got rave results with that, but I think next time I will try the good stuff.

The directions are pretty long, but don't let that scare you off. It's well worth the effort.

Sweet Tart Dough

2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

Lightly packed 1/2 cup ground blanched almonds

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2 large eggs at room temperature

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1. To make the dough: Place butter in a food processor or standing mixer and process, scraping bowl as needed, until creamy. Add confectioners' sugar and blend well. Add the ground almonds, salt, and vanilla and continue to process until smooth, scraping the bowl as needed. Lightly stir the eggs together with a fork, and with the machine running, add them to the work bowl; process for a few seconds to blend. Finally, add the flour and pulse just until the mixture starts to come together. When the dough forms moist curds and clumps and then starts to form a ball, stop! - you don't want to overwork it. The dough should be very soft.

2. Gather the dough into a ball and divide it into 3 pieces. (I weighed it, and did the math, and for those of you like me who like to be exacting, each third should weigh about 12.33 ounces. ) Gently press each piece into a disk, and wrap each disk in plastic. Allow the dough to rest in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, or for up to 2 days, before rolling and baking.

3. To roll and bake tart crusts: For each tart, butter the tart pan and place it on a parchment-lined baking sheet. If you are making more than one tart, work with one piece of dough at a time.

4. The easiest way to roll this out is in between to pieces of plastic wrap. Turn the dough over often so that you can roll it on both sides, and as you are rolling, be sure to lift the plastic wrap up several times so that it doesn't crease and get rolled in the dough. If the dough becomes too soft, put it back in the fridge for a few minutes (still between the sheets of plastic) (I do this anyway right before I put it in the tart pan, it makes it easier to work with and position correctly) Remove one sheet of plastic and center the dough, exposed side down, over the tart pan. Press the dough against the bottom of the pan, and up the sides, remove the top sheet of plastic, and roll your rolling pin across the top to cut off the excess. If the dough cracks or splits while you are working, don't worry you can patch the cracks with with leftover dough (moisten the edges to "glue" them into place). Just be careful not to stretch the dough in the pan (what you stretch now will shrink later). Chill for at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator. (oops! I keep forgetting this part! They've turned out okay though, I hadn't realized I had done anything wrong until I just typed that line!) Repeat with remaining dough as necessary.

5. When you are ready to bake the crust(s), preheat the oven to 350. Line the crust with a circle of parchment paper or foil and fill with dried beans or rice.

6. Bake the crust(s) for 20 to 25 minutes, or until just very lightly colored. If the crust needs to be fully baked, remove the parchment and beans and bake the crust for another 3 to 5 minutes, or until golden. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Keeping: Wrapped airtight, the dough can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 2 days, or frozen for a month. Frozen disks of dough take 45 to 60 minutes at average room temperature to reach a good rolling out consistency. Baked crusts can be kept uncovered at room temperature for about 8 hours.