Flaky, buttery, and packed with fresh rhubarb. Celebrate spring with these stunning Rhubarb Almond Pastries that are easy to make and perfect for a weekend treat.
Rhubarb season is one of our favourite, albeit short-lived, seasons. Whenever we can get our hands on a bunch of local rhubarb inspiration hits. From cakes and scones to loaves and flaky pastries – rhubarb shines in just about any medium. This year we made these buttery, but vegan, Rhubarb Almond Pastries.
Inspired by danishes, we start by making a batch of our flaky pie dough to use as a base for a sweet and nutty almond spread and chopped, marinated rhubarb. Baked until golden and flaky – these pastries are a must make!
Why you’ll love these vegan pastries:
- Flaky, buttery layers.
- Taste straight from the bakery!
- Perfect morning treat.
Top tips for making Vegan Rhubarb Almond Pastries:
- Take your time. To get perfectly flaky dough its important to take your time and try not to take any shortcuts – give each step the time it needs.
- Don’t overwork the dough. With pie dough we want to avoid gluten development and the key is to not overwork it. Mix until it just comes together and fold 2-3 times in order to create layers. You shouldn’t need anything more than that.
- Keep the dough chill. To get the signature flaky layers like in pie dough you need to let the dough rest and keep it cold. Flaky layers are achieved when layers of cold butter melt when they hit the heat and create air pockets. If you think the dough is getting a bit too warm, pop it into the fridge for 10 minutes before working with it again.
- Let the almond paste chill. Once you’ve made the almond paste, pop it into the fridge for at least 20 minutes before using in the pastry.
How to make Vegan Rhubarb Almond Pastries:
Vegan Rhubarb Almond Pastries
Flaky, buttery, and packed with fresh rhubarb. Celebrate spring with these stunning Rhubarb Almond Pastries that are easy to make and perfect for a weekend treat.
Print Pin ItServings: 12 Tarts
Ingredients
Dough:
- 300 g 2.5 cups all-purpose flour
- 226 1 cup cold vegan butter, cubed
- 1/2 cup ice water
- Salt, to taste
Almond Paste:
- 43 g 1/3 cup almonds
- 41 g white sugar
- 1 flax egg
- 35 g 2.5 tbsp vegan butter
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
Rhubarb:
- 150 g rhubarb, chopped
- 1 tbsp white sugar
- 1 tbsp orange zest
- 1 tbsp orange juice
- 1/2 tsp vanilla paste or extract
Topping:
- Coarse sugar, (optional)
- Vegan egg wash, (optional)
Instructions
Before you start: Put your butter in the fridge or freezer to ensure it’s as cold as possible. Do this with your ice water as well.
- To make the pastry dough, add flour and salt to a bowl – mix. Add cubes of very cold butter and using your hands toss until all the butter cubes are evenly coated in flour. Squish each cube of butter between two fingers and toss in flour again. Gently rub the butter into the flour until the butter is about the size of walnut halves or leave as is for an extra flaky pastry.
- Create a well in the middle of the flour and pour in about half the cold water and toss until all the water is absorbed into the flour. One tbsp at a time, add more cold water to the bowl and mix until the dough comes together – you want to handle it as little as possible. You may need to add more or less water than stated as different flours hydrate at different percentages.
- Divide the dough into quarters, form into a disk and wrap in plastic. Chill for at least 30 minutes. If making this recipe across a couple days this is a good place to stop.
- To make the rhubarb combined chopped rhubarb with white sugar, orange juice and zest, and vanilla paste. Stir to coat and set aside to marinate.
- To make the almond paste, pulse almonds and sugar in a food processor until coarse. Slowly add in butter and flax egg and process until creamy. Stir in both vanilla and almond extract. Set aside.
- To make the rhubarb pastries, generously flour a clean work surface. Working with a quarter of the dough at a time, roll out into a rectangle about 1/4” thick. Using a 4” round cookie cutter, cut out dough. In half of the circles use a 3” cookie cutter to cut another circle in the middle. Re-roll the cutout pieces and make more circles.
- Using your finger brush the borders of the circle (the one completely intact) with water then place the circle with the cutout on top – pressing gently to seal. Transfer to a lined baking sheet. Place in the fridge or freezer to rest.
- Repeat steps 6 & 7 with remaining dough.
- Preheat oven to 400F.
- Spread 1-2 tbsp of the almond paste within the circle cutout of every pastry and place some marinated rhubarb on top.
- (Optional) Brush the top of the pastry dough with a vegan egg wash and sprinkle with coarse sugar.
- Bake in preheated oven to 20-30 minutes or until golden brown and flaky.
- Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve.
