I'm amazed at how superior your vanilla is!
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Excerpted from Flavor Flours by Alice Medrich (Artisan Books). Copyright © 2014. Photographs by Leigh Beisch.
Chestnut Jam Tart
Makes 10 servings
Alice says, “A jam tart seems like a relaxed, simpler-to-make linzer torte, with an Italian accent instead of a German one. A jam tart is called fregolata in Italian, and it’s pretty and festive and giftable, too. I thought it fitting (and extra delicious) to swap the usual shortbread crust for a chestnut crust. The dough is quick to make by hand and is then pressed flat into a tart pan with no worries about the sides since the dough forms its own edge as it bakes. Any jam will do for the topping, but the prettiest and most flavorful are red fruits like cherry, plum, raspberry, blackberry, or even strawberry. The jam is topped with crumbled bits of dough and sliced almonds and pushed into the oven to do its own thing.”
(The Chestnut Jam Tart recipe does not contain vanilla. Add 1/2 teaspoon Rain’s Choice Vanilla Extract to the jam if you’d like)
Print1½ cups (150 grams) chestnut flour
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon (60 grams) white rice flour or ½ cup plus 1 tablespoon (60 grams) Thai white rice flour
½ cup (100 grams) sugar
Rounded ¼ teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
12 tablespoons (1½ sticks/170 grams) unsalted butter, slightly softened, cut into chunks
¼ cup (60 grams) cream cheese
1/3 cup (100 grams) jam or preserves
¼ cup (25 grams) sliced almonds
Equipment
9½-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom
Rimmed baking sheet
To make the crust, put the chestnut flour, rice flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl and whisk until thoroughly blended. Add the butter chunks and cream cheese. Use a fork or the back of a large spoon to mash and mix the ingredients together until all are blended into a smooth, soft dough.
Set aside a scant ¼ cup of the dough. Press and spread the remaining dough evenly across the bottom of the tart pan, but not up the sides. Wrap and refrigerate the pan and the reserved piece of dough for at least 2 hours and up to 3 days.
Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 325°F.
Spread the jam evenly over the dough, leaving a scant ½-inch border all around. Without completely covering the jam—because it’s pretty—sprinkle it with crumbled bits of reserved dough and the almonds.
Set the pan on the baking sheet. Bake 35 to 40 minutes, until the edges are rich golden brown and have pulled away from the sides of the pan. If the tart puffs up during baking—take a peek after about 20 minutes, and a couple times thereafter—settle it down by lifting the edge of the baking sheet and rapping it sharply on the oven rack a couple of times. Cool the tart in the pan on a rack.
When the tart is cool, remove the rim of the pan and set the tart on a serving plate. The tart keeps, covered, at room temperature for at least 3 days.
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I was given a small bottle of Rain’s Choice in a gift basket and I have been hooked ever since. The flavor makes all of my baking so much better! I will never use grocery store vanilla again!
