Homemade Pine Nuts Tart with Red Bean Paste Filling

This recipe is a crossbreed between Italian style tart shell and Japanese style filling. Pine nuts were used to the tart shell to add a nutty punch. This type of shell matches very well with the honey infused red bean paste I made before. If you are a fan of west meets east dessert, come give it a try!

Homemade pine nuts tart with red bean paste filling -

Ingredients (for one 7-inch tart)?

1 1/2 cup of all purpose flour
1/2 cup of pine nuts
1/4 cup of granulated sugar
Small pinch of sea salt
1 stick of unsalted butter
2 cups of red bean paste

How?

Here's the link for my red bean paste recipe.

As for the tart shell,
Grease the inside of the shell mold with some melted butter.

Take a food processor; add in the flour, pine nuts, sugar, and small pinch of sea salt -

Give it a few pulses first. Cut the butter into small cubes and add into the food processor. Give it a few pulses again then mix till the mixture start to form a dough.

Remove the dough from the processor and form a big ball. Wrap with foil and into the fridge for about 30 minutes.

After the dough has been set in the fridge, evenly press the dough onto a greased 7-inch tart mold.

It should be about 1 centimeter or a little bit less in thickness for both the sides and the bottom. I actually made a mistake here and didn't leave enough dough on the bottom. Lesson learned! Personal opinion, it's always better to have a thick crust then no tart shell at all!

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit/175 degrees Celsius.

Gently pour in the pie weights and bake for 25 minutes. Once done, take out the tart shell and let it cool down a wee bit. Remove the pie wieghts and back to the oven for another 20 minutes.  

Last step, take out the tart shell and let it cool a little bit till ok to handle by hand. Fill in the red bean paste. Remember to even out the surface since this type of filling is pretty thick and will not smooth out during the baking process. Continue to bake for another 10 minutes. Once ready, remove from heat and wait till completely cool off before cutting into individual slices.

If you can get a hold of condensed milk, just pour it right on top of the filling. Condensed milk makes red bean tastes even better!