This delicious Spiced Almond Pastry defines sugar, spice, and everything nice! It’s jam-packed with natural ingredients like wholemeal pastry flour, ground almonds, and cinnamon, and it’s sweetened with little coconut sugar. This pastry will add a beautiful flavor, texture, and wow factor to your baked delights – mince pies included!
Page Contents
Why You’ll Love Spiced Almond Pastry
- It’s loaded with real food ingredients. No processed ingredients here! Just a delicious combination of wholemeal pastry flour, almonds, spices, coconut sugar, eggs, lemon, vanilla, and butter.
- It’s perfectly sweet and delicately spiced. This pastry is sweet but not too sweet. It’s the perfect balance of sweetness and spice.
- It’s versatile. The cinnamon in this recipe perfectly complements so many bakes, especially around the festive period. Some of my favorites are mince pies, apple pies, pecan pies, and pumpkin pies, to name a few!
Recipe Ingredients
The basis of this pastry recipe has been developed using the age-old pastry ratio of 3 parts flour, 2 parts fat, and 1 part water. From there, I’ve made some tweaks to satisfy my own needs for a deliciously flavorsome pastry made only using whole food ingredients.
Ingredient Notes
- Wholemeal Pastry Flour: Whole wheat flour is less processed than white flour, and as a result, it retains its vital nutrients and fiber. This makes wholemeal flour denser than white flour. However, using wholemeal pastry flour (sometimes called fine plain wholemeal flour), you can achieve a texture closer to white flour. Avoid strong wholemeal flour, which should be reserved for making bread.
- Almond Flour (Ground Almonds): As well as the gorgeous almond flavor and little flecks of white it adds to this pastry, almond flour is an excellent source of heart-healthy fats. The fat content also helps keep the pastry tender.
- Butter: This recipe wouldn’t be the same without butter. It’s essential for a lighter, flakier texture.
- Egg: One whole egg provides the necessary liquid to the pastry. An egg gives the pastry richness and forms a dough with a lovely crumbly texture.
- Cinnamon: Cinnamon has a distinct sweet yet spicy aroma that makes this pastry extremely inviting.
- Coconut Sugar: A natural sugar with a beautiful hint of caramel that adds flavor and a delicate sweetness to this pastry.
- Vanilla Extract: Vanilla extract is a lovely flavor enhancer. Enough said!
- Lemon Juice: Although you won’t taste the lemon in this recipe, it has been added to stop the pastry from shrinking as it bakes.
- Fine Sea Salt Flakes: Although salt is optional, it balances the sweetness.
How to Make Almond Pastry: Step-By-Step
- Prepare
Place the flour, almond flour (ground almonds), coconut sugar, chilled butter, and cinnamon in a food processor.
- Breadcrumbs
Pulse until the ingredients resemble fine breadcrumbs. If you prefer, you can rub the ingredients together with your fingers or use a pastry cutter.
- Beat
Whisk the egg, vanilla extract, and lemon juice in a small bowl.
- Add Egg
Slowly add the egg mixture to the breadcrumbs.
- Pulse
Pulse just enough to bring the dough together.
Tip: Avoid over-mixing, as it will encourage the development of gluten and make the pastry tough. - Shape
Tip the pastry onto a floured surface and shape it into a round disc, ready to chill. This will help you roll out the dough easier later on.
Tip: Avoid overhandling, as it will encourage the development of gluten and make the pastry tough. - Plastic Wrap
Cover the pastry with plastic wrap (cling film) and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before using. This will prevent the pastry from shrinking as it bakes.
Find the recipe card with exact ingredients and full recipe instructions at the bottom of this page. ⇩
Tips for Making the Perfect Spiced Almond Pastry
- Weigh your ingredients. For best results, weigh your ingredients using a weighing scale.
- Keep the ingredients cold. Keeping the pastry cold will give you a super-tender tart or crust. There are several ways to keep the pastry cold.
- Make sure your butter and eggs come straight from the fridge.
- Place any equipment that may come into contact with the pastry in the fridge to chill. Even the food processor bowl and the rolling pin. This might also include a mixing bowl and pastry cutter if you’re making your pastry by hand.
- Rinse your hands under cold water before handling your pastry.
- Some bakers even swear by using a cold marble chopping board to roll out the pastry dough.
- Chill and chill again. Putting pastry in the fridge before rolling it out allows the dough to relax and re-chill the butter. This will ensure the pastry is easy to roll and that the final outcome is a crumbly texture. After you have put the pastry into the tin, chill it again to prevent the pastry from shrinking.
- Trouble rolling. If the pastry splits when rolling, it’s probably too cold to roll. Leave to rest at room temperature for a few minutes and try again.
- Butter. The butter can be cubed, which I find best for adding to the food processor, or grated, which I prefer to rub into the flour.
How to Make Homemade Mince Pies with Almond Pastry
This pastry is perfect for making my homemade mince pies. For this, you’ll need a mincemeat recipe and mince pies recipe. Get them here:
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Printable Recipe Card
📖 Recipe
Spiced Almond Pastry
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PRINT PIN RATEEquipment
Ingredients
- 1 ⅔ cups (210 g) wholemeal pastry flour, sifted
- ⅓ cup (40 g) almond flour (ground almonds)
- ⅔ cup (150 g) unsalted butter, very cold and diced
- 2 tablespoon coconut sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- pinch sea salt
- 1 medium egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
Instructions
- Prep: Gather and prepare your ingredients.
- Food Processor: Place the flour, almond flour (ground almonds), chilled butter, coconut sugar, cinnamon, and sea salt in a food processor.
- Breadcrumbs: Pulse until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. If you don't have a food processor, you can rub the ingredients together with your fingers.
- Beat: In a small bowl, whisk the egg, vanilla extract, and lemon juice. Slowly add the egg mixture to the food processor. Pulse just enough to bring the dough together.
- Shape: Tip the pastry onto a lightly floured surface and shape it into a round disc, ready to chill. This will help you roll out the dough easier later on. Avoid over-handling, as it will encourage the development of gluten and make the pastry tough.
- Plastic Wrap: Cover the pastry with plastic wrap (cling film) and place it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before using. This will help stop the pastry from shrinking as it bakes.
Notes
Nutrition Information (Per Serving)
Nutrition Disclaimer: Nutritional information is estimated using an online nutrition calculator. For accuracy, we recommend you calculate using the exact ingredients and brands you used.
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