Saturday, October 26, 2013

Pear Frangipane Tart

As you've seen from a previous post, I was gifted with lots and lots of pears from my parent's garden recently. I turned most of them into pear puree but the pear givers also wanted to receive them back, in the form of a cake or a tart.  "A nice one" was the instruction issued to me.  Hang on there, all of my stuff is nice.  "Oh, but no chocolate, I can't be doing with that".  Drat, no brownies for you then, ungrateful wretches...



I know they're both partial to anything containing almonds so I decided that they were getting a tart.  A Pear Frangipane Tart to be precise.  It comprises a shortcrust pastry base (1 x 320g sheet is perfect) or homemade, in a 9 inch loose bottomed tart case, filled with fresh pear quarters and a light almond frangipane batter, scattered with flaked almonds.  You could turn it into a fruity bakewell tart by adding a layer of jam to the pastry base or using soft fruit like frozen raspberries... the combinations are endless.


Pear Frangipane Tart

320g Shortcrust Pastry
140g Butter, very soft
140g Caster Sugar
3 Eggs
1 tbsp Vanilla Extract
180g Ground Almonds
60g Self Raising Flour
6-8 medium Pears, peeled, cored & quartered
25g Flaked Almonds


Preheat your oven to 160c/Gas Mark 3.  Fill a loose bottomed 9 inch tart tin with the sheet of pastry, pressing well into the flutes of the tin.  Trim off the excess pastry with a sharp knife and prick the base well with a fork.


Arrange the pears on the pastry base.


Beat the butter and caster sugar together until light and fluffy (the more you beat it, the better it gets).  Add the eggs and vanilla, mix well and add the ground almonds.  Finally, fold in the flour until just combined and pour the frangipane batter over the pears.


Scatter with the flaked almonds, place the tart tin on a large baking sheet (in case of overspill) and bake for 35-40 minutes until golden and a skewer comes out clean.


 Remove from the oven and allow to completely cool in the tin before slicing and serving.





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