Tarte aux Noix Fondante- French Walnut Tart (Vegan)
This elegant French walnut tart is both indulgent and rustic, and full of deeply-satisfying walnut flavor. The tall, dense, moist, brownie-like texture is sublime, with fluffy and mouthwatering tenderness in every bite. And the maple-glazed walnut and pastry cutout decorations are an easy way to elevate this tart to look stunning. It's vegan, and the flavor is irresistible. This alluring dessert is simple to pull together, and is sure to please even the most discerning crowd.
Ingredients
Crust and decorative cutouts
- 3¾ cups (450 g) all-purpose flour
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- 1¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 cup plus 3 tablespoons (270 g) cold vegan butter, cubed
- 6 tablespoons (90 ml) ice-cold-water, plus up to 1 tablespoon (15 mL) more, only if needed
- small extra amount of flour to sprinkle for rolling out dough for crust and cutouts
- small extra amount of sugar to optionally sprinkle on pieces of cutout dough scraps
Walnuts for dry filling and optional decoration
- 2½ cups (260 g) walnut halves and large pieces, total
Remaining dry filling ingredients
- 1 cup (120 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons (16 g) cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
Wet filling ingredients
- ¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup (80 ml) maple syrup
- ½ cup (120 ml) non-dairy heavy whipping cream
- 3 tablespoons (45 g) vegan butter, melted
- 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons walnut liqueur or dark rum
Optional glaze
- 2 tablespoons (30 ml) maple syrup, for brushing cutouts and walnuts to decorate the top of the tart
Instructions
Make the dough
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt. Cut in the cold butter with a pastry cutter, two knives, or your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse, sandy crumbs.
- Add 6 tablespoons of cold water and toss gently just until the dough holds together. Stop as soon as the dough comes together, only adding the additional tablespoon if necessary. Do not knead.
- Weigh the dough. You should have about 900 grams total, but the exact amount isn't important.
- Divide the dough into two portions, about two-thirds for the tart shell and about one-third for the decorative cutouts. (If using a kitchen scale, this is approximately 600 grams for the shell and 300 grams for the cutouts, but the exact quantities aren’t important.)
- Flatten the dough into 2 separate disks. Wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Toast and prepare the walnuts
- While the dough is chilling, preheat the oven to 325°F (160°C). Spread the walnuts on a sheet pan, ideally into a single layer.
- Toast the walnuts for 10 to 14 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the walnuts are fragrant and lightly browned. Allow them to cool completely.
- Weigh 60 grams of walnut halves to decorate the top of the tart (optional). Set aside.
- Weigh the remaining 200 grams for the dry filling. Chop 140 grams of this into large pieces. Pulse the remaining 60 grams into a coarse meal using a food processor. Set aside.
Roll out the crust and place in tart pan
- Increase the oven temperature to 350°F (180°C). Position two racks, either one in the center of two ovens or one just above and one just below the center in one oven.
- Lightly grease the pan.
- Roll the larger dough portion, sprinkling with flour as needed, to about ⅛ inch (3 mm) thick. Press into the base and up the sides to the top of the rim. Reinforce the sides with any extra dough.
- Dock the dough evenly with a fork. There’s no need to blind bake.
- Refrigerate for 10 minutes.
Prepare the decorative cutouts
- Roll out the remaining disk of dough, sprinkling with flour as needed.
- Cut shapes as desired. Optional tip: Use cookie cutters with an interior impression, like the plunger type, for more detail in your cutouts.
- Optional tip: gently roll out the scraps into a round shape and sprinkle the tops with sugar. Cut into desired shapes and enjoy as bonus pieces for the chef!
- Refrigerate the cutouts for 10 minutes.
Mix the filling
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt. Gently stir in the chopped walnuts and walnut meal.
- In another mixing bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients: sugar, maple syrup, cream, melted butter, vanilla, and walnut liqueur or dark rum.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones and stir gently just until smooth. The batter should be thick and spreadable.
Bake the decorative cutouts
- Place the cutouts in the oven, either on the upper of 2 racks in one oven or in the center rack if baking separately from the tart.
- Bake the chilled cutouts for 8 to 20 minutes (depending on thickness) until lightly golden.
Fill and place tart in oven
- While the cutouts are baking, gently and evenly spread the batter into the chilled crust.
- Place the tart in the oven, either on the lower of 2 racks in the same oven or on the center rack in a second oven.
Glaze the cutouts and walnuts
- Once the tart is in the oven, brush the warm cutouts lightly with maple syrup for a soft sheen. If also using the reserved walnut halves to decorate, brush those with maple syrup at the same time. Set both aside while the tart finishes baking.
Continue baking the tart
- Bake the tart for 50 to 65 minutes, until the surface and crust are matte and golden, and the center is set. A toothpick should show moist crumbs but not wet batter.
- Cover the crust loosely with foil if the edges brown too quickly.
Finish the tart
- Remove the tart from the oven. Allow the tart to cool in the pan for about 15 to 20 minutes, then carefully remove it from the tart pan.
- Optional tip: practice decoration setup on an 8” round piece of parchment paper, which is about the same diameter as the tart inside of the crust.
- Arrange the glazed walnut halves and baked cutouts on the surface. The tart can finish cooling with the decorations in place.
Cool completely
- Allow the tart to cool for at least 2 hours before slicing. The texture will set as it cools.
Notes
Detailed cookie cutters: I like to use cookie cutters with an interior impression, like the plunger type used in the photos, for more detail in your cutouts.
Easy decoration practice: It's simple to decide on your decoration setup using an 8” round piece of parchment paper, which is about the same diameter as the tart inside of the crust. Then you'll feel confident about how you'd like to position your cutouts and walnut halves when it's time to top the tart.
Tall tart pan: Please try to use the recommended size of tart pan if you can. The ideal size is a 9½-inch (24 cm) removable-bottom tart pan, about 2¼ inches (6 cm) tall or similar springform or cake pan. When you add the crust dough to the rim of the pan, and then add the filling which goes only about halfway up, it's hard to imagine that the filling will rise to the height of the crust. But it will, during baking! I hope you'll love the fabulous and tall brownie-like depth of this finished tart.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!