Which comes first: the equipment or the recipe?

Usually when I discover a new-to-me recipe it comes from a cookbook, magazine, or website and only after reading the recipe do I search for any equipment I need to make it. Today, however, the process worked in reverse. Browsing through a cooking store/tourist trap beside the interstate that serves as a leg-stretch point during the seven hour drive back from my hometown, I spied an unfamiliar item: sandbakkelse tins. The tins looked a little like brioche tins but not quite, with more fluting and a shallower depth. Of course I had to buy them, even though I wasn’t sure what sandbakkelse were.

After a cursory Google search I learned that sandbakkelse (the spelling varies depending on where you look) are also known as sand tarts, although they are more like a chewy cookie or a small cake than a tart as we know them in the US. Scandinavian in origin, these cookies usually contain almond flour, eggs or egg whites, all-purpose flour, and almond extract. Rarely, they may contain cardamom, a favorite spice on the Scandinavian spice rack.

Even when I did not know what the tiny tins were actually designed to contain, I had plans for them. They are the perfect size for friands, teacakes, and financiers. (Like Alton Brown, I love equipment that can multi-task.) The ingredients in sandbakkelse closely resemble those for financiers and friands, so it seems like a natural fit. I also have a notion that many of Dorie’s cookies that are baked in a muffin tin might do well in these pans. In addition, I will try a recipe like these in the EYB Library for the traditional tarts. No matter what use I put these tins to, I can be assured the results will be savored.