Almond Tart Straight from Grand-mère

This recipe for an Almond Tart is straight from my husband’s grandmother Manny’s cookbook.

This is just one of her many recipes that allow you to use your imagination and cooking skills.

The temperature conversion chart will help with the temperature but the cook is left to fill in the rest of the details from their own cooking experience.

Almond Tart:

Bowl 1 : Beat until light the yolks of 6 eggs with 1 cup of powdered sugar.
Add 1/2 lb, pounded almonds, 1 cup cracker meal.
Bowl 2: Beat the whites of 6 eggs until very stiff. Flavor with lemon.

Mix the two bowls together.

[Put in pie or tart pan]

Bake in a moderate oven. [350 degrees fahrenheit]

Since the recipe dates from the 1920s, I make the assumption that the cracker meal is crushed saltine crackers. I am fairly sure the ones Manny would have used would have had salt but I prefer the unsalted saltines or even 1/2 salted and 1/2 unsalted. I also whir the crackers in the food processor to get a super-fine crumb.

As for the pounded almonds, I cheat and buy super-fine almond meal.

For her note of “flavor with lemon”, experiment to see whether you prefer adding lemon juice to the yolks or just lemon zest to the whites after they have been beaten stiff. As for my almond tart, I prefer just a tiny touch of almond extract instead. I only wish I had been able to experience the tart as Manny originally made it.

Bon Appetit

Note – I’ve made homemake vanilla extract by a similar method but this recipe for almond extract is a new one for me!