Pear Frangipane Tart
This tasty pear frangipane tart is made from scratch with homemade pastry crust, rich almond filling and poached pears.
Servings: 16 2 small tarts (7-inch/18-cm in diameter) or 1 large (10-inch/25-cm in diameter)
Calories: 236
Ingredients
For pastry:
- 1.5 cups all-purpose flour (210 grams), see note 1
- 3 tablespoons superfine sugar (45 grams), see note 2
- 1 stick unsalted butter , chilled (110 grams)
- 1 egg yolk
- 3 tablespoons cold water
For poached pears:
- 3 small to medium pears , see note 3
- 2 cups water
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ cup sugar (50 grams)
For frangipane:
- 1 stick unsalted butter , diced, at room temperature (110 grams)
- ½ cup superfine sugar (100 grams)
- 1 cup , heaped ground almonds (110 grams)
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour (40 grams)
- 3 medium eggs , at room temperature
Instructions
- Pastry: In a mixing bowl, combine flour and sugar. Mix.
- Add butter. Use your hand to work the butter into the flour mixture until you get a crumb-like texture (break the butter, mix it with some flour and continue until completely crumbled, check my pastry video if in doubt).
- Add egg yolk and water. Start forming dough with your hands. It will take about 5 minutes. You want to form a nice ball of dough that is not sticking to your fingers much (the more you knead the warmer the dough gets and the stickier).
- Wrap the bowl in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Pears: While waiting for the pastry to chill, prepare pears, then frangipane. Rinse pears and cut each in half. Peel them and remove seeds and hard parts. In a small saucepan, combine water, sugar and cinnamon. Add pears, mix and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 10 minutes. When ready, drain the water and set the pears aside for later.
- Frangipane: In a mixing bowl, with hand mixer beat together butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Add almonds, flour and eggs. Mix with the mixer until well combined. Set aside.
- Tart: Divide pastry in half (when making 2 tarts). On a floured work top, roll out half of the pastry about ¼-inch thick/0.5-centimeter. Transfer the pastry into a greased 7-inch sandwich pan (or use baking parchment on the bottom and grease sides with butter).
- Using your fingertips, press pastry into the corners of your pan/tin. To avoid tearing, lift the pastry with one hand and then press down into the corner with another one. Trim off the excess pastry using a knife. If you have another pan, repeat the process.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F/180°C for 10 minutes. Take out, fill with frangipane and top with cooked (and drained) pears.
- Transfer back in the oven and bake for a further 20 minutes (or until the filling has set) at the same temperature.
- Once ready, let it cool down before removing from the tin. If greased well, it will easily come out.
- Dust with powdered sugar (optional) and serve!
Video
Notes
- All-purpose flour (US) = Plain flour (UK, IRL).
- Superfine sugar is the same as castor sugar. It is granulated white sugar with small sugar crystals. It has a pretty much a similar texture to fine salt. If your regular white sugar comes in such texture, then go ahead and use it.
- Large pears will work better when making one large pear tart and you might need to use more. Smaller pears are perfect when making 2 small tarts.
- The crust can be made ahead and kept in the fridge overnight. The following day let it sit at room temperature for a few minutes before rolling. Pears can also be poached in.
- This recipe card contains process photos but if in doubt, please check the video that will help you visualize the process. For more tips, please read the post above this recipe card.
- Most of the prep will be done during the inactive time (when the pastry is resting in the fridge) for that reason, the time needed to make frangipane and poach pears is included in the prep time.
Nutrition Facts
Pear Frangipane Tart
Amount per Serving
Calories
236
% Daily Value*
Fat
13
g
20
%
Saturated Fat
8
g
50
%
Cholesterol
73
mg
24
%
Sodium
25
mg
1
%
Potassium
29
mg
1
%
Carbohydrates
27
g
9
%
Fiber
1
g
4
%
Sugar
16
g
18
%
Protein
3
g
6
%
Vitamin A
414
IU
8
%
Calcium
16
mg
2
%
Iron
1
mg
6
%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
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