Pistachio Bakewell Tart

Asked by Kate1e. Answered on 26th June 2017

Full question

Could I use pistachios instead of almonds in the Raspberry Bakewell Tart recipe? If so, should I replace all the almonds with pistachio or just a proportion and will sugar content and cooking time remain the same? Thank you.

Our answer

Nigella's Bakewell Tart With Fresh Raspberries (from HOW TO EAT) is filled with a frangipane mixture made from ground almonds (almond meal), butter, eggs and sugar. It would be possible to make a version using pistachio nuts instead and this should give a bright green filling, which would give a nice pink and green combination against the deep pink-red of the raspberries. We would use all pistachios, but these can be difficult to find in ground form.

We suspect that you would need to grind your own pistcahios and you would need to use the same weight of nuts (unsalted) as for ground almonds. Remove as much of the papery skins as possible by blanching the pistachios in a saucepan of boiling water for 1 minute. Drain and immediately drop into a bowl of ice water to cool for 5 minutes then drain again and put the nuts in a clean tea towel. Rub until the skins come away. Transfer to a baking sheet lined with a double layer of kitchen roll (paper towels) and pat dry. Grind the nuts in a food processor with the caster sugar to prevent the nuts from becoming oily. You may want to omit the flaked nut topping or use finely chopped pistachios. We suspect that the sugar quantity would remain the same. However as we have not tried this version of the Bakewell Tart we regret that we are unable to guarantee the results.