This is a variation on the Austrian Linzertorte, made as individual tarts instead of a single large pie.   I have been making it now for about twenty years.
        Until recently it was a major pain in the neck to make Christmas tarts; and I only did so because they are so delicious .   I used an imported pan with a dozen oval tart cups that had prettily fluted edges; and they produced charming, decorative little pies.   But it was not a non-stick pan; and I guess no more needs to be said, except that those pretty fluted edges were a tedious bore to wash.   Fortunately, a couple of years ago I was able to buy a non-stick pan with a dozen round fluted tart cups.   I still butter and flour it; but the tarts are much easier to remove, and clean-up a breeze.   This is the more relevant since the recipe makes about two dozen tarts; so I have to make two batches, washing the pan in between. (Anyone who asks why I didn't buy two pans obviously hasn't looked at the price of such things.)
        Basically, these are a sort of super-duper jam tart.   They have a spicy pastry that texturally resembles a graham cracker crust, but tastes even better.   I generally fill them with red currant preserve, when I can get it.   For a number of years there has been a Swiss brand (Hero) available in the many of the local supermarkets, though they don't all carry that flavour.   However, red currant jelly is basically the same thing—certainly it is in terms of flavour, though the texture is a bit different—and that is often easier to find in the shops.

Ingredients

Directions

Making the Pastry
Grind and sift the walnuts.   Put them, along with all the other ingredients for the pastry, in a bowl or food processor.   Work them together into a dough.

Filling the Patty Pans
Grease and flour the tart cups.   If the patty pan has twelve cups, you will use about half the dough to line the cups.   Press it into the cups at least an eighth of an inch thick, making sure that the dough comes up level to the top of each of the tart cups.

Filling the Tart Shells
Put a couple of teaspoons of jam into each tart shell, leaving at least a quarter inch clear at the top of the shell.   This is because the jam will boil when the tarts are baked, and boiling jam bubbles up.   You don't want it to boil over the top of the pastry, so you leave room.

Baking
Bake at 400°F for about fifteen minutes, until the jam is bubbling, and the pastry has turned golden brown.   Remove from the oven, and put a pinch of ground almonds in the centre of each of the tarts.

Removing from the Pan
Cool on a wire rack.   Do not try to remove the tarts from the pan until they are completely cool.
        When the tarts are cool, gently lever them out by inserting the tip of a paring knife between the tart and the patty shell.

If you have used a twelve-cup patty pan, then you have only used half of the dough.   Wash the pan, and make the second batch of tarts.

Makes two dozen tarts.