Salty Nut Tart with Rosemary

Sometimes I read the titles of these recipes in Dessert Person and I really don’t know what to expect; the Salty Nut Tart with Rosemary was a good example of that. When was the last time any of us have eaten a nut tart? What I had been anticipating turned out to be a far cry from what I ended up with (which was a very good thing).

Like Claire mentioned might happen, I did not have pine nuts for this recipe, which she clearly strived to have as the star component of the Salty Nut Tart. I don’t think I’ve ever seen pine nuts in a store to be honest, so I used shaved almonds instead.

I made the Sweet Tart Dough the night before; since I have a 10” tart pan rather than the 9” inch pan that’s recommended in the book, I make a double batch of dough. I always end up with extra, but I’d rather have too much than too little for creating such a fragile tart (I've learned this the hard way before).

The day I made this dessert, I started by assembling the tart. I can practically do this recipe without looking at the directions at this point! While I put this tart together, I toasted the almonds and walnuts for about 8 minutes, shaking them around halfway through. By that point, my tart was ready to start baking, so I placed it in the oven with the foil covering for 17 minutes.

While the tart was in its first phase of baking, I cooked the sticky ingredients like honey and light corn syrup with sugar and heavy cream in a sauce pan. It didn’t really take as long as Claire suggested for it to all combine and form a sugary sauce, but it is easy for this to quickly turn into a caramelization, so it needs to be watched closely. After this was done cooking, I added chopped rosemary, salt, vanilla and toasted nuts. It kind of reminded me of pralines or nut cluster desserts with how the almonds and walnuts were glazed throughout by the sticky sugar mixture.

Once my tart was parbaked and cooled, I placed the nut filling in the middle, making sure it was evenly spread across the entire tart. This dessert was so fragrant throughout the entire process due to the toasted nuts and fresh rosemary. It baked for about 27 minutes and filled the entire kitchen with a rich, savory scent.

Once the nut tart was out of the oven, I sprinkled a mix of salt and more rosemary over the top. It looked like a fresh forest floor with the variations of toasted brown tones and hints of green from the rosemary.

The Salty Nut Tart with Rosemary surpassed all my expectations. I was imagining just some crunchy nuts with tart dough, but the glaze mixture ties it all together, and the salt and rosemary add warmth. For someone who’s never had something like this, I’d say a pecan pie was the closest thing I’d had beforehand; the Salty Nut Tart is more savory than sweet, but similar in texture and crunch. I think this could be a good appetizer for Thanksgiving, or great to bring to a party. It has a strange place in the realm of desserts; however, that allows you to use it for events where you’re not in charge of an entire meal, but may not necessarily want something extremely sweet. Overall conclusion—my expectations were exceeded!

If Claire shares this recipe on her YouTube channel I will post it!