Pensee Taart

shortcrust pie (pâte sablée; zandtaartdeeg, Sandteig) with almond paste filling and apricot glaze

Ingredients for the pie crust:

• 300 grams all-purpose flour
• Frank adds 50 grams ground (or ground caramelized "pralin") hazelnuts
• 200 grams unsalted butter (no substitute!) at room temperature
• 100 grams brown sugar
• 1 package of vanilla sugar
• pinch of salt

Ingredients for the filling and icing:

• 300 grams almond paste (at least 50% almonds, so do not use marzipan!)
• 50 grams unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 beaten egg
• 1 tablespoon of heavy cream (whole milk may be substituted)
• several tablespoons of apricot jam or preserve (if using the latter, remove or puree the whole pieces of apricot)

If your supermarket doesn't carry 50/50 almond paste, you can make it yourself (preferably several
days ahead of use):

• 150 grams peeled/skinned "white" almonds ("amaro", "Bittermandel"), or ground almonds
• 150 grams powdered sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
• pinch of salt
• if not using ground almonds, then grind the whole almonds in a food processor
• mix in the powdered sugar
• mix in the egg, lemon juice, salt
• knead into a thick paste
• wrap in kitchen film, and keep in refrigerator

Instructions:

• mix the dry ingredients in a bowl
• cut the butter small pieces into the bowl, using two knives
• thoroughly knead into a smooth dough
• cool in refrigerator for 30 minutes
• split the dough 2/3 + 1/3
• roll the 2/3 part into a thin sheet (approximately 4-5 mm thick); if the dough is too sticky (this will definitely happen if you add an egg to the dough), then put the dough ball on a flour covered piece of kitchen film, dust with flour, cover with another piece of film, and roll.
• cover the bottom and side wall of a greased pie pan with the dough; if you have too much dough for the size of the pan, do NOT use it up by making the crust thicker. Frank uses a 25 cm diameter (10 inches) pie pan that is about 3 cm high (2½ inch)
• crumble the almond paste into a small bowl, add the butter, egg, and cream, and work into a smooth paste
• spread the almond paste evenly in the pie pan
• roll the 1/3 dough into
• bake at 160 °C (320 °F) for 40 minutes; if using oven with fan, check after 30 minutes and turn off top heater elements.
• let cool
• heat the apricot jam and spread a thin layer all over the top of the pie
• let cool
• mix 6-8 heaping tablespoons of powdered sugar with some water; should not be too thin, but not so thick that it can't be brushed onto the pie.
• brush the entire pie top with the sugar glaze and let set
• this pie is rather sweet, so serve small slices!! [Recipe by Marie-Louise Linssen]