These little tarts are lovely! They might look a touch like muffins, but taste so much better! The sweet pastry that forms the base will create a wonderful pairing with either raspberry or mixed berry jam, I think I actually prefer raspberry, but I was serving mixed berry jam for High Tea.

These can be thrown in a bowl for a casual tea or stacked any which way for a nice presentation for High Tea. The best part? You can make these up to 3 days in advance, just store in a plastic bag at room temperature. Dust with confectioner’s sugar before serving.

Mixed Berry Almond Tarts

pastry:
5 tbsp butter, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/3 cup pastry flour
1 egg, beaten
1 egg yolk, for glaze
2 tbsp milk

1. Cream butter and sugar.
2. Add half the almond flour and half the almond flour. Whisk together.
3. Add eggs and milk. Whisk together.
4. Add the remaining flour. Bring together into a ball.
5. Cover and chill for 1 hour.

filling:
8 tbsp unsalted butter
2 eggs
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp ground almond flour
scant 1/2 cup pastry flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp almond extract
about 1/3 cup Mixed Berry Jam or Raspberry Jam
desiccated coconut, to sprinkle
confectioner’s sugar, to serve

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Meanwhile, beat butter and sugar together.
3. Beat in 1 egg. Add a few tbsp ground almonds.
4. Beat in remaining egg and remaining ground almonds.
5. Remove bowl from mixer and fold in flour and baking soda by hand.
6. Fold in almond extract.
7. Roll out pastry to thinner than 1/8 inch.
8. Cut out circles to line mini muffin tin. I found that the 2 1/2 scone round worked perfectly. You will make about 24, re-roll dough if needed.
9. Place rounds into muffin tin, the dough should come right up to the edges.
10. Add about 1/4 – 1/2 of a teaspoon of jam into each crust.
11. Add about a teaspoon of almond mixture to cover the jam. Do not overfill as the high butter content will cause the filling to expand and possibly spill out of the molds. If you have a spill, no worries, they are still delicious, and you can trim them after baking.
12. Sprinkle the tops with coconut and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden on top.
13. Cool completely before arranging on a platter and dusting with confectioner’s sugar.

Cut around 24 rounds to fit an mini muffin tin.

fit crusts into muffin tin

Total cooking time: about 2 hours, makes 24 mini-pastries