Caramel Nut Tart

I thought this would be a great recipe for using up small amounts of assorted nuts leftover from holiday baking. I used a combination of macadamia nuts, Brazil nuts, hazelnuts and almonds. I don’t have an 8” x ¾” tart ring, only a 9” tart pan so I scaled the recipe up to fit the larger pan (it’s ~26% larger).

Given the detailed nature of this book, it always surprises me when I come across what seems to me an obvious oversight. For this recipe, it’s the lack of direction on how to toast nuts! I did them one type at a time as I knew the toasting time would differ with each nut variety.

Assembly of the tart was quick once the elements were made: the toasted nuts were arranged in a prebaked pâte brisée tart shell and drizzled with some caramel jam.

I sliced the tart into 12 small pieces (with a chef’s knife with a heated blade that cut through the caramel easily) as I suspected it would be very rich. Everyone else was fine with it but I was done after 2 bites….it was just too much like eating candy. The nuts and the pastry shell prevented the tart from being too sweet and helped to reduce the stickiness of the caramel but most tasters thought it could use some chocolate. They gave it a rating of 4 stars but I won’t be making it again.