These almond frangipane hand pies are made with homemade all butter pastry dough, rolled thinly and layered with almond frangipane, then baked until flaky and crisp. To make them extra fancy, see the photo tutorial in today’s post for assembling these gorgeous almond tarts with a unique woven dough pattern.
You might also love these mini apple hand pies with cinnamon sugar, mini pumpkin hand pies, and cheesy ham and egg hand pies.
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What is Frangipane?
Frangipane is a spreadable almond paste or almond cream made of butter, sugar, almond flour (or ground almonds), eggs and almond extract. It’s a popular filling in French and British pastries, and is often used in cakes, pies and tarts. Frangipane is a main component of the Bakewell tart. When baked, the filling has the texture of a soft, moist, dense almond cake.
I’ve used frangipane in this apricot frangipane tart, and also used leftover frangipane from today’s recipe as a filling in a batch of these almond sweet rolls.
The Design
The woven design on my almond frangipane hand pies is inspired by something I saw on Instagram last year. This account has some beautiful cookies and pastries, and I was especially intrigued by this post, which seems to be a type of bun or pastry made from dough containing yeast.
But ever since I saw the design, I wanted to try it with my own pie dough recipe. And they turned out more beautifully than I hoped. Whether you want to call these mini pies, hand pies or tarts, the result is a stunning pastry that looks so fancy for the holidays or a special occasion.
These little almond tarts are labor intensive and time consuming to make, so this is a wonderful baking project for a weekend morning at home. The frangipane filling sort of melts into the pastry dough as they bake, and when you bite into them, you’ll be rewarded with layers and layers of crisp, flaky, buttery pastry with a hint of almond flavor.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
- Pie Dough. For the pastry crust, I used my recipe for all butter pie dough. It’s crisp, buttery and flaky, and easy to roll out thinly for the bottom crust and lattice strips on top of the tart.
- Butter. Use unsalted butter, or omit the extra salt if using salted butter. The butter should be soft, so you can easily cream it with the sugar.
- Granulated Sugar. Adds sweetness to the frangipane filling, and a bit of crunch to the pastry crust when sprinkled on top before baking.
- Eggs. Adds moisture to the frangipane, as well as strength and structure. You’ll also need an extra egg white to use as the “glue” when assembling the pies.
- Vanilla + Almond Extracts. Flavor.
- Flour. You’ll need almond flour as well as all-purpose flour for the filling.
- Salt. Balances the sweetness.
High Altitude Tested: I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude. Today’s recipe will also work at lower altitudes and sea level without adjustments, though.
Instructions
Make the Dough
- Make the pie dough, then wrap it in plastic wrap to chill and rest for 45 minutes, before rolling it out.
- You can refrigerate the dough up to 3 days in advance, or freeze it for up to 3-6 months.
Make the Frangipane Filling
- With an electric mixer (stand or hand held), beat the softened butter with the sugar for several minutes, until light and fluffy.
- Scrape down the bowl and beat in the eggs, almond extract and vanilla extract; the mixture will be lumpy.
- Add the almond flour, all purpose flour and salt. Beat for several minutes until thick and smooth. Set aside until needed.
Roll out the Dough
- Working with half the dough at a time, roll the dough out onto a clean, floured work surface. Use as much flour underneath and on top of the dough as you need, to keep it from sticking to the counter or your rolling pin.
- You need to roll it very thinly, about 1/16 of an inch thick.
- Use a ruler and a sharp knife or a rolling pastry wheel cutter to cut squares measuring 6×6 inches.
- Gather up the dough scraps, press them into a ball again, and wrap the dough ball in plastic to let it rest while you work with a new piece of dough. If the dough is over-worked, it can be resistant to rolling out, so I set aside all the scraps until the end, then rolled them out again to continue cutting squares of dough. If you roll your dough thinly enough, you should be able to cut 15 6-inch squares of dough.
Assemble the Pies
- Use a sharp knife to cut a square of dough as shown in the photos, by cutting the top left and bottom right quadrants into 8 equal strips, taking care not to cut all the way through the center. Use a ruler if you need to measure your dough while making your cuts, so that everything is even.
- Spread several teaspoons of the almond frangipane filling over the bottom left quadrant of dough, stopping 1/4 inch from the edge, then use a pastry brush to lightly brush the egg wash over the edges around the filling.
- Fold the top right quadrant of dough diagonally towards the bottom left, lining up the edges and gently pressing them with your fingers to seal the edges together.
- Repeat the step of spreading several teaspoons of the almond frangipane filling over the bottom left quadrant of dough, stopping 1/4 inch from the edge, then use a pastry brush to lightly brush the egg wash over the edges around the filling.
- Now start folding the strips of dough in an overlapping pattern, so that they cover the filling, trying to keep the strips of dough as straight and even as possible. Start with a strip at the top, folding it down to the bottom. Then a strip on the right, folding it across to the left. Repeat this pattern until you only have one strip from the top and one strip from the right remaining.
- Brush a little egg wash along the bottom and left side of the pie, then fold the last two strips down, pressing them gently to seal the edge.
- Use a sharp knife or rolling pastry wheel cutter to trim the edge along the left and bottom sides, if it looks uneven.
Bake the Pies
- Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Arrange the pies several inches apart on the baking sheets, then set the baking sheets in the refrigerator to chill the unbaked pies for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 375 F. Position two racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven.
- Lightly brush the chilled pies with egg wash, then sprinkle with granulated sugar.
- Bake the pies for about 40-45 minutes, rotating the pans between the upper and lower racks halfway through, until golden brown.
- Let cool for several minutes, then serve warm or at room temperature.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!
Frequently Asked Questions
After cooling the pies completely, store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.
While I haven’t tested this design with other fillings, I believe it would work well with any flavor of jam or fruit butter. The pumpkin pie filling in these mini pumpkin pies would also work.
Generally speaking, I haven’t had good success using store bought puff pastry at high altitude. And as for store bought pie dough, the flavor is just terrible in my opinion, and you’ll have a beautiful little pie that won’t taste nearly as good as it would with homemade pie dough.
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Almond Frangipane Hand Pies
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Ingredients
Pastry Crust
- 1 recipe all butter pie dough
Frangipane
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 ½ tsp almond extract
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup finely ground almond flour
- ½ cup all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
Egg Wash
- 1 large egg white, lightly beaten with 1 tsp water
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar
Instructions
Make the Dough
- Make the pie dough, then wrap it in plastic wrap to chill and rest for 45 minutes, before rolling it out.
- You can refrigerate the dough up to 3 days in advance, or freeze it for up to 3-6 months.
Make the Frangipane Filling
- With an electric mixer (stand or hand held), beat the softened butter with the sugar for several minutes, until light and fluffy.
- Scrape down the bowl and beat in the eggs, almond extract and vanilla extract; the mixture will be lumpy.
- Add the almond flour, all purpose flour and salt. Beat for several minutes until thick and smooth. Set aside until needed.
Roll out the Dough
- Working with half the dough at a time, roll the dough out onto a clean, floured work surface. Use as much flour underneath and on top of the dough as you need, to keep it from sticking to the counter or your rolling pin.
- You need to roll it very thinly, about 1/16 of an inch thick.
- Use a ruler and a sharp knife or a rolling pastry wheel cutter to cut squares measuring 6×6 inches.
- Gather up the dough scraps, press them into a ball again, and wrap the dough ball in plastic to let it rest while you work with a new piece of dough. If the dough is over-worked, it can be resistant to rolling out, so I set aside all the scraps until the end, then rolled them out again to continue cutting squares of dough. If you roll your dough thinly enough, you should be able to cut 15 6-inch squares of dough.
Assemble the Pies
- Use a sharp knife to cut a square of dough as shown in the photos, by cutting the top left and bottom right quadrants into 8 equal strips, taking care not to cut all the way through the center. Use a ruler if you need to measure your dough while making your cuts, so that everything is even.
- Spread several teaspoons of the almond frangipane filling over the bottom left quadrant of dough, stopping 1/4 inch from the edge, then use a pastry brush to lightly brush the egg wash over the edges around the filling.
- Fold the top right quadrant of dough diagonally towards the bottom left, lining up the edges and gently pressing them with your fingers to seal the edges together.
- Repeat the step of spreading several teaspoons of the almond frangipane filling over the bottom left quadrant of dough, stopping 1/4 inch from the edge, then use a pastry brush to lightly brush the egg wash over the edges around the filling.
- Now start folding the strips of dough in an overlapping pattern, so that they cover the filling, trying to keep the strips of dough as straight and even as possible. Start with a strip at the top, folding it down to the bottom. Then a strip on the right, folding it across to the left. Repeat this pattern until you only have one strip from the top and one strip from the right remaining.
- Brush a little egg wash along the bottom and left side of the pie, then fold the last two strips down, pressing them gently to seal the edge.
- Use a sharp knife or rolling pastry wheel cutter to trim the edge along the left and bottom sides, if it looks uneven.
Bake the Pies
- Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Arrange the pies several inches apart on the baking sheets, then set the baking sheets in the refrigerator to chill the unbaked pies for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 375 F. Position two racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven.
- Lightly brush the chilled pies with egg wash, then sprinkle with granulated sugar.
- Bake the pies for about 40-45 minutes, rotating the pans between the upper and lower racks halfway through, until golden brown.
- Let cool for several minutes, then serve warm or at room temperature.
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