My favourite little 1936 cookery book, the National Mark Calendar of Cooking, is very enthusiastic about their recipe for blackcurrant and almond paste tart… which does indeed sound very delicious!
Here is the whole recipe as it appears… it’s very simple!! I have rearranged the instructions so the almond paste recipe comes first
Blackcurrant and almond paste tart
- 1 lb blackcurrants (or a tin of blackcurrants, the syrup thickened)
- arrowroot
- sugar
- 1 egg
- 6 oz castor sugar
- lemon juice
- ½ lb ground almonds
- 6 oz icing sugar
- vanilla or ratafia essence
This is unusual and very good indeed! Eat it cold, with some kind of plain cake or biscuit: sponge fingers would be excellent. This sweet can be made equally well with tinned black currants. The syrup from the tin should be thickened.
To make the almond paste, sieve the castor sugar with an equal quantity of icing sugar and mix in a basin with the ground almonds and a dessertspoonful of lemon juice. Flavour with a little vanilla or ratafia essence, and knead the mixture well with hand until it is a smooth paste, adding beaten egg to moisten it as you want. Then roll out and proceed as follows. (If you want a rich golden-coloured paste, use the yolk of egg only. But the whole egg, or even the white only may be used, of preferred.
Make a rather deep flan case with the almond paste, and fill this with the blackcurrants which you have stewed in sugar and a little water to make a compôte. Blend the syrup with a little arrowroot, and bake the flan for a few minutes only.
Lois Elsden 