Mazariner

Marzariner belong to the slightly fancier side of the fika table. When I grew up they were almost always bought from the bakery, not home made. I wonder why? My grandmother used to make a Mazarin tart.

They do take a little bit of time to make but are quite easy and well worth the effort. Filled with almonds, butter and eggs, they are a treat. According to my english son-in-law, they are somewhat like cherry bake wells, minus the cherry! The name supposedly comes from Cardinal Guilio Mazarin, who lived in the 1600s and ruled France alongside Louis XIV!

Ingredients:

Crusts:200 g butter
4.5 dl flour
0.5 dl sugar
1 egg yolk
1-2 msk water
Filling:

200 g almonds, ground
10 g bitter almonds, ground
100 g butter, at room temperature
2 dl sugar

3 eggs
Glaze:

1.5 dl icing sugar
1 - 1.5 tbsp water

Method:

Cut the butter for the crusts into cubes. Mix it with flour and sugar in food processor. Add egg yolk and water and let it come together into a dough, careful not to over work it.

Press dough into little moulds, allow them to rest 30 minutes in fridge.

Set the oven to 175 C (350F).

For the filling, ground or blend almonds in food processor and add butter and sugar. Add the eggs one at at time and blend to a smooth batter.

Place the chilled moulds on a baking tray and fill them with the almond batter. Bake on centre rack in the oven approx. 20-30 minutes, until filling has set. Let cool on rack.

For the glaze, stir together icing sugar and water. Ice each cake and let set. Only ice as many cakes as you intend to serve at the time. If you are making them in advance, or freezing them, ice before serving, allowing time for glaze to set.