Need a recipe for tea time?  Felicity attended lessons at her teacher Miss Manderly’s home. She was taught sewing, handwriting and most importantly patience. Felicity also learned how to properly serve and take tea. Miss Manderly served a variety of treats to her young pupils but Queen Cakes and Almond Tarts were Felicity’s favorites.

The recipe calls for baking these tarts in regular sized muffin tin cups. I chose to make mine mini. The Felicity books describe them as “tiny almond tarts” so I wanted them to be small or bite-sized. I prepared these for a tea lesson to use with students. I liked the almond tarts and think they paired perfectly with the black mango tea I served. I did add more lemon peel than the recipe calls for and I feel like that was a good choice as I think they could’ve been bland.

To try other Felicity recipes visit Felicity’s Raspberry Flummery, Felicity’s Spiced Nuts and Felicity’s Liberty Tea.

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For this recipe you will need: 3/4 cups of flour, 6 tablespoons of butter, 1 egg, 1 tablespoon of cream, extra flour for rolling out dough, 1/2 cup of butter, 1 lemon, 1 cup of ground almonds, 1 tablespoon of orange juice, 3 eggs and a 1/2 cup of sugar. The complete recipe is at the bottom of the page.

The Pastry: In a mixing bowl place the flour and cut butter. Using a pastry cutter or fork, blend until the mixture is crumbly. Next add the egg and cream, then stir until a dough forms. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

The Filling: Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. If you need to crush your almonds, do that now. I placed mine in a plastic bag and crushed them with a rolling pin. Melt the butter in a pan and pour it into a mixing bowl. Add 1 tablespoon of grated lemon peel from the lemon. I added the zest of over a half a lemon and preferred it that way. Otherwise, it seemed a little bland. Next add the ground almonds, orange juice, eggs and sugar. Mix everything well and set aside.

Divide the chilled dough into 12 pieces and shape each one into a ball. (I chose to do my tarts mini, so I divided the dough into 24 pieces.) On a floured surface, roll out each ball into a circle, about 1/4 inch thick then place each circle in a muffin cup on the muffin pan. Pat each one down into the muffin cup so they fit like small pie crust. Divide the filling evenly between the tarts. (I had a lot of filling left over since I went mini. I grabbed a refrigerated pie crust and placed it in a small baking dish cutting off the extra dough. I poured the leftover filling into it and made a large tart to not waste the ingredients. The hubs loved it. He loves to eat all of my leftover tea food when the guests/students leave and this time he got his own big tart.😉)

Bake for 40 minutes, or until an inserted knife comes out clean. (The mini tarts didn’t take as long.) Let the tarts cool before serving.

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Almond Tarts ~ Pleasant Company

(This recipe has been adapted from Felicity’s Cook Book)

*This recipe requires adult supervision when using the oven!

Ingredients:

Pastry

• 3/4 cups of flour
• 6 tablespoons of butter
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon cream
• Extra flour for rolling out dough

Filling

• 1/2 cup of butter
• 1 lemon
• 1 cup ground almonds
• 1 tablespoon orange juice
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar

Directions:

1. Measure the flour and butter for the pastry into a mixing bowl. Use a pastry cutter or fork and blend until the the mixture is crumbly.
2. Add the egg and cream, then stir until smooth.
3. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
4. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.
5. Melt the butter in a pan.
6. Once melted, pour it into a mixing bowl. Add 1 tablespoon of grated lemon peel from the lemon (I added the grated peel of near 3/4 of the lemon), ground almonds, orange juice, eggs and sugar. Mix everything well and set aside.
7. Divide the chilled dough into 12 pieces and shape each one into a ball. (I chose to do bit size, so I divided the dough into 24 pieces.)
8. On a floured surface, roll out each ball into a circle, about 1/4 inch thick.
9. Place each circle in a muffin cup on a muffin pan. Pat each one to the muffin cup so they fit like small pie crusts.
10. Divide the filling evenly between the tarts.
11. Bake for 40 minutes, or until an inserted knife comes out clean.
12. Let the tarts cool before serving.