Pâte Sucrée (Almond Shortcrust Pastry)
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In French pâtisserie, pâte sucrée (aka almond shortcrust pastry) is one of the basic crusts—and it’s the one I use most often for my sweet tarts and fruit tarts.
It’s also the favorite crust among French pastry chefs because it holds its shape well and can even support moist fillings without getting soggy. What I especially like about it is that it’s made with ground almonds, which give it a lovely texture and aroma.
Recipe card
Pâte Sucrée (Almond Shortcrust Pastry)
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Equipment
- 1 tart pan (24–28 cm / 9.5–11 in)
Ingredients
- 10 tbsp unsalted butter softened (1¼ sticks / 5 oz)
- ⅔ cup icing sugar confectioners’ sugar
- 1 large egg about 2 oz
- ¼ cup ground almonds or almond flour
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract optional
Instructions
- Cream the softened butter with the icing sugar (and vanilla) using the paddle attachment, until smooth and pale.
- Add the egg and mix just until incorporated—no longer.
- Add the flour, ground almonds, and salt, and mix without kneading until a smooth dough forms.
- Shape into a ball (it will be a little sticky—that’s normal, don’t add flour). Roll it out between two sheets of parchment into a circle slightly larger than your pan, then chill for 1 hour.
- Line the pan and prick the base all over with a fork.
- Cover with parchment paper and baking weights (or rice / dried beans).
- Blind-bake for 15 minutes in an oven preheated to 350°F (180°C conventional, or 160°C fan), removing the parchment and weights for the last 5 minutes so the base colors too. If it browns very quickly, lower the temperature by 10°C (about 20°F) next time.
- Then, depending on your recipe: either bake a few minutes more (around 25 minutes total) for a fully baked shell, or add your filling before continuing to bake.
Nutrition
3 French Crusts To Know: Shortcrust Pastry, Shortbread Pastry, and Almond Shortcrust Pastry
In France, we distinguish between 3 types of dough for tart crusts, all of which can be translated into English as “shortcrust pastry.”
To help you distinguish between them, I’ll refer to them as: shortcrust pastry (Pâte Brisée), shortbread pastry (Pâte Sablée), and almond shortcrust pastry (Pâte Sucrée). All three consist of nearly the same ingredients, but each is prepared differently and used for different purposes:
- Pâte brisée (shortcrust pastry): the simplest type of dough, typically used for savory recipes like quiches. It consists of flour, butter, water (sometimes an egg), and salt. For a sweet shortcrust pastry, you can add one or two spoonfuls of sugar. It’s great for beginners because it’s easy to roll out.
- Pâte sablée (shortbread pastry): It consists of flour, butter (more than in brisée), powdered sugar, and one egg instead of water. First, the butter is mixed with the flour and sugar, then the egg is added. The dough is very crumbly and is nice for fruit tarts and Christmas cookies.
- Pâte sucrée (almond shortcrust pastry): the most technical, but the best for fruit tarts and cream-based tarts, because it holds together better than pâte sablée and cuts cleanly. The big difference: you add ground almonds and start by creaming the butter with the sugar (see below).
The Ingredients For The Pâte Sucrée
For my almond shortcrust pastry, I like to use the recipe by the famous French pastry chef Pierre Hermé, since it isn’t too sweet and is easy to work with. I recommend using a kitchen scale here to measure your ingredients (even if you will find the equivalent in cups in the recipe card).
You’ll need:
- 140 g butter: It needs to be soft, “like buttercream,” as they say. Take it out of the fridge at least 1 hour beforehand.
- 1 egg: Take it out of the refrigerator as well, and make sure it weighs about 50 to 55 g.
- 75 g icing sugar: not regular sugar. Icing sugar helps create a smoother mixture.
- 25 g ground almonds. They give the dough its flavor and the lovely texture that defines pâte sucrée.
- 250 g all-purpose flour. It gives the dough structure.
- 1 pinch of salt. Just to balance out the flavor.
These quantities are perfect for a tart pan with a diameter of 24 to 28 cm.
How To Make Pâte Sucrée
As I mentioned earlier, this is the main difference from a classic shortcrust pastry is that instead of starting by crumbling flour and butter, you start by creaming the butter with sugar first before adding the rest of the ingredients. That’s really the key step:
- Cream the butter. Place the soft butter and icing sugar in the mixing bowl of your stand mixer. Mix the two together (i. e., beat them with the flat attachment on your stand mixer) until a smooth, light-colored mixture forms.
- Add the egg. And beat again just until it’s well incorporated—no longer.
- Add the dry ingredients. Add the flour, ground almonds, and salt. Stir everything together one last time until you have a smooth dough.
- Shape it into a ball. Take the dough out of the food processor and shape it into a ball. If it’s a little sticky, that’s perfectly normal—don’t worry, and definitely don’t add any flour!
- Stir. Roll out the dough between two sheets of parchment paper into a circle slightly larger than your tart pan, then let it rest in the fridge for 1 hour.
Want to add some flavor? Sometimes I add a vanilla bean or a little lemon zest, or I replace the ground almonds with ground hazelnuts.
How To Place The Pâte Sucrée In The Pan
To be honest, I don’t necessarily use the pastry ring method employed by the great French pastry chefs—I just use a nice tart pan, and it works wonderfully.
Once my dough has cooled completely, I place it in the pan and remove the parchment paper from the top. I press the dough gently inward so that it fits nicely inside the pan, and then roll a rolling pin along the edges to trim off the excess dough.
If the dough cracks, press the cracks back together with your fingers. While this isn’t absolutely necessary, once the dough is in the pan, you should let it rest in the refrigerator again so it doesn’t shrink during baking.
Mistakes You Should Avoid
Pâte sucrée is a little harder to work with than a classic shortcrust pastry because it contains a bit more butter and sugar—but you’ll see: if you avoid these mistakes, everything will turn out great!
- Don’t overwork the dough. Stop as soon as the dough comes together. If you knead it for too long, it will become hard and crumbly when baked.
- Don’t skip the chilling. If the dough is too warm, it shrinks in the oven—so chill it 30 minutes to 1 hour after rolling it out.
- Does your dough break? It’s perfectly normal; you’ll get the hang of it over time. Just smooth it out with your fingers—once it’s filled, you won’t see it anymore.
Blind-Bake The Pâte Sucrée
I recommend that you always blind bake your almond shortcrust pastry: this is the only way you can be sure that it is baked through in the middle. Here’s how to do it:
- Prick the bottom several times with a fork.
- Cover it with parchment paper and baking weights (or rice or dried legumes).
- Blind-bake for 15 minutes at 350°F (180°C conventional, or 160°C fan), removing the parchment and weights for the last 5 minutes so the base colors too. If it colors very quickly in your oven, lower the temperature by about 10°C (20°F) next time.
Important: For some recipes, the dough must be fully baked through; in this case, you should expect a baking time of around 25 minutes in total.
Recipe Ideas with Pâte Sucrée
Once your crust is ready, you can top it and turn it into a proper French tart. Here are a few ideas:
- Strawberry tartlets with crème pâtissière —a classic for strawberry season that’s always a hit.
- A Tarte Bourdaloue with pears —a winter classic here in France.
- A French lemon tart with lemon curd.
- A rhubarb tart with almond cream in the spring.
- An apricot tart in the summer—my favorite tart!
And if you’re looking for a tart filling that goes well with almost any fruit, you can simply add my almond cream on the bottom of the prebaked almond shortcrust pastry and top it with fruit (plums, apricots, pears, apples, raspberries, etc.).
FAQ About Pâte Sucrée
Yes, and that’s actually a great idea! Prepare the dough the day before, roll it out into a small disc, and wrap it in plastic wrap. The next day, all you have to do is roll it out between two sheets of parchment paper and place it in the pan. Personally, I’d even recommend rolling out the dough directly in your pan the day before—that way, you’ll have most of the work already done.
That’s because your dough was too warm when you put it in the oven. Next time, put it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes before baking, and only then put it in the oven.
Yes, that’s actually really convenient! Just freeze it right away—raw, rolled out into a small slice, and wrapped in plastic wrap. It’ll keep very well for 2 to 3 months that way. Then just let it thaw overnight in the fridge before you use it.
Your pâte sucrée will keep in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days (wrapped tightly in plastic wrap).
Above all, the preparation method: For the almond shortcrust pastry, first mix until creamy (beat the butter and powdered sugar until fluffy, then add the egg and dry ingredients); for the shortbread dough, work the cold butter into the flour until it has a sandy texture, then add the egg to bind it together. This makes the almond shortcrust pastry firmer and more uniform, while the shortbread pastry becomes crumblier—just like shortbread cookies.
