Almond Tartlets

Pastry	Almond Filling
125 g German #405 flour 50 g Caster sugar 1 package / 8 g Vanilla sugar 1 Egg yolk 70 g Butter 2 tbsp Pineapple jam	2 Egg whites Pinch of salt 1/4 tsp Lemon juice 150 g Powdered sugar 1 tsp Almond extract 200 g Skinless almonds, ground 2 tbsp Almonds or hazelnuts, chopped

Sift the flour into a bowl. Add sugar, vanilla sugar, egg yolk and the butter. With your hand, gather all the ingredients into a ball. Transfer the dough on a lightly floured work surface and knead it feels pliable and smooth. Wrap in cling film and chill for 1 hour.
Well grease ten 2-inch tartlet tins. Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator and roll out to a circle about 3mm thick. Line the prepared tartlet tins with flan pastry. Brush each with pineapple jam. Preheat the oven to 175C/350F.
Beat egg whites with salt and lemon juice until soft peaks. Add in almond extract, powdered sugar in a few additions and beat until stiff. Fold in the ground almonds until combined. Fill each pastry shell with almond batter. Divide the almond batter into the 9 prepared pastry shells. Sprinkle the chopped hazelnuts or almonds on the top and bake for about 30 minutes. Allow to cool for 10 minutes or so in the tins, then turn out on a rack. You can make them without using pastry shells and fill 9 muffin liners instead.