Almond Pine Nut Tart

This almond pine nut tart features a crunchy pâte sucrée crust, sweet almond filling, and toasted pine nut topping. Simply serve it with a dusting of powder sugar, or go all out with a scoop of vanilla ice cream! 

The best kind of desserts have a variety of textures. The contrast between creamy, crunchy, soft, and crumbly elements keeps each bite interesting and exciting. These textural variations keep you coming back for more! This pine nut tart checks off all the boxes.

Tarte aux Pignons et Amandes

This dessert features three distinct layers. You can clearly see those layers in the almond pine nut tart slice photographed above.

First, there is the crunchy, crumbly cookie like crust. Second is the soft, sponge-like almond filling. And third, the crisp and crunchy toasted pine nuts on top.

Perhaps you’ve seen something similar at a French bakery under the name tarte aux pignons (pine nut tart) or tarte aux pignons et amandes (pine nut and almond tart). It is also similar to the Italian dessert torta della nonna (pine nut tart).

This is basically a French frangipane tart baked with whole pine nuts. This tart is not very sweet. It’s the kind of treat you can enjoy anytime of day, including first thing in the morning for breakfast!

Pine Nut Tart Assembly

It’s important to use a fluted tart pan with a removable bottom. Otherwise, it will be very difficult to unmold the baked tart.

The pâté sucrée tart dough is par-baked to ensure it cooked throughout (meaning no soggy bottoms!).

Most frangipane filling use pre-made almond pastes, like the case in my nectarine frangipane tart. This almond pine nut tart goes a step further. I make my own version of “almond paste” using super fine almond flour, glucose (or light corn syrup), and egg white.

Blind Baking

Pre-baking, par-baking or blind baking refers to baking an unfilled pastry shell. This is done to prevent a soggy crust one the filling is added.

There are two types of blind baking: partial blind baking and full blind bake.

The tart shell for this recipe is partially blind baked. Once the dough is in the tart shell pan, it is lightly docked with a fork to prevent the dough from puffing up. For even more protection, the dough is lined with parchment paper (or aluminum foil) and topped with weights.

While you could use fancy ceramic pie weights, regular old dried beans work like a charm. Just make sure you use enough weight to fill all the crevices of the tart shell.

The dough is baked just until the edges are set and start to pull away from the tart pan.

Pre-toast the pine nuts:

Flavor is transported through oils and fat. Toasting nuts activates the oils trapped within the nuts. This intensifies the flavors, while also improving the texture of the nuts.

Even though the pine nuts sit atop a moist filling, they’ll remain crisp due to the pre-toasting.

What is pâte sucrée?

Pâte sucrée translates to “sugar dough.” It is a dough usually reserved for sweet pastry recipes. Unlike pie dough in which the butter is cut into the dry flour mixture, this tart dough is mixed together like cookie batter.

Softened butter is cream together with sugar and eggs to create a crumbly dough. The dough is very forgiving and easy to roll out.

No need to worry about rips or tears when lining the tart shell pan. With pâte sucrée, you can easily patch holes by simply pressing addition dough into the tear.

Best of all, pâte sucrée bakes into this rich golden brown crust that’s crumbly and crisp. It’s the kind of dough I wouldn’t mind eating like chips!

More Nut Dessert Recipes

• Pear Frangipane Tart
• Orange Almond Bostock
• Almond Croissant
• Cashew Cookies