Tea Crusts

I recently found out that my nephews are teacup freaks. On family vacations, they asked for it for their breakfast (it’s true that it’s good in the morning too!). So I figured this was a good opportunity to make a big batch! This way we would be quiet for a few days… Well no, because they almost devoured everything in two days. The adults certainly helped a little, but these little things are finally eaten quickly! With a funny name and a color that has nothing to do with the taste, I offer you my version of tea crusts in their purest tradition.

Recipe for tea crusts (for a 26X26cm mould)

Sweet dough (enough for 2 pies):

210g of flour
125g of cold soft butter
35g of powdered sugar
25g of almond powder
50g of beaten egg
vanilla powder

Tea crust:

450g almond powder
400g of caster sugar
250g of egg white
1.5 teaspoons of liquid bitter almond extract (or vanilla, or orange blossom or matcha green tea)
green dye (yellow+blue)
powdered sugar for the decoration

Prepare the sweet dough. Place all ingredients except the egg in a bowl or in the bowl of a food processor.

Beat with the leaf of the robot (this is the K) until the butter is incorporated.

At this point, add the previously beaten egg.

Turn on again just to incorporate the beaten egg but no more!

Place half of the dough on parchment paper. Put the rest in cling film in the freezer for another pie!

Place another sheet on top of the dough and roll out with a rolling pin to a thickness of about 2-3mm. This way, no extra flour is added and the work surface and rolling pin stay clean.

Grease your mould with butter or better still, with a release agent.

Trim the edges to get a clean mold.

Mix the almond powder and sugar.

Add the 250g of egg whites and the bitter almond extract.

Pour in the green dye as well. This one is optional of course, but the tea crust is still curiously green! I used liquid blue and yellow, but if you have a powdered green dye, this would be perfect!