When I bring or serve a pear frangipane tart for dessert, there is never any leftovers. The soft and not-too-sweet almond paste together with the cookie-like crust, topped with some fruit (and always served with whipped cream or ice-cream) is a delectable combination! With this pear frangipane tart recipe, I have reduced the overall sugar in the crust and in the frangipane. I also don't glaze the top. Eventhough this results in a "matte" rather than a "glossy" finish, I forego the extra sugar in the glaze. However, I will add the glaze in the recipe, should you choose to make your topping shiny. It is purely aesthetic with a hint of sweetness.
The wonderful thing about this recipe is you can make this tart either as a round tart, a rectangular tart or in individual ramekins. You can also choose fruits depending on what's in season, it's so versatile.
Tips for making pear frangipane tart.
This recipe is comprised of 3 components. A sweet pastry crust, an almond frangipane filling and a topping with or without glaze. I explain it this way so that you will begin to realize that once you master a few crusts, a few fillings and use different types of fruits as toppings, you can start switching the various combinations, you can make a multitude of your own unique creations successfully!
See my sweet pastry crust post for and tips
See my frangipane post for tips
Fresh Fruit Toppings.
The tart works better with fruits that do not bleed. When using fruit that oxidizes, turns brown after cutting, submerge the fruit in a bowl of water with a teaspoon of lemon juice. The lemon juice has citric acid that slows down the oxidation. The fruits used should be somewhat firm rather than too ripe. Fruits that are too ripe are hard to work with and tend to not handle the heat as well.
Make sure you dry the fruit well with a paper towel before applying to the tart.
Less fruit can be used by spreading it flat on the tart. If you want more fruit on the tart, place the fruit on it's side. This will take longer to bake but you'll have a fruitier tart!
Baking.
When pre-baking the sweet pastry crust, do not overbake and overbrown but make sure the bottom of the crust is cooked. The crust will be baked again with the frangipane which will continue to brown the edges of the crust.
When baking with the frangipane, after 20 minutes, check the tart. If there are some areas that seem uncooked as a result of excess moisture pooling in that area, use a clean paper towel and dab the liquid. This will assist in the browning process. The baking may take up to 45 minutes depending on the amount of fruit on the tart.
Glaze
There are different ways of making fruit glazes from mixing juice with water and cornstarch to a very simple and fail-proof way which I usually use. I use strawberry jelly or apricot jam, depending on the topping that I want to glaze. Heat the jelly in a microwave with a bit of water until it melts and then lightly brush it onto the fruit. You may have to microwave the glaze several times before you are completely done coating your tart as the jelly does start to thicken when cooled.
Let me know what tart combinations you've come up with in the comment section!
PEAR FRANGIPANE TART
Equipment
- pastry brush
Ingredients
Pastry
- 110 grams butter
- 67 grams sugar
- 1 large egg
- 240 grams all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- â…› tsp salt
Frangipane
- 110 grams unsalted cold butter
- 67 grams sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 120 grams almond flour
- 18 grams all purpose flour
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tsp almond extract
Topping
- 3 pears Firm, but not too hard.
- 1 bowl water
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
Glaze
- ½ cup apricot jam
- 1 Tbsp water
Instructions
Crust by Hand
- Preheat oven to 400° fahrenheit or 204° celcius
- Cream butter and sugar.
- Beat eggs.
- Sift dry ingredients.
- Add beaten eggs and dry ingredients to creamed butter. DO NOT OVERMIX. Mixture should be crumbly.
- Press into one 13" round tart pan or pan of your choice. Pan should have a removable bottom.
- Poke a few holes on the bottom of the crust. Pre-bake for 5-8 minutes or until crust starts to brown.
- Cool the crust before adding the frangipane.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 350° fahrenheit or 176° celcius
Crust with Food Processor.
- Preheat oven to 400° fahrenheit
- In food processor, combine butter and sugar and blend
- Beat eggs
- Sift dry ingredients
- Add beaten eggs and dry ingredients to creamed butter. DO NOT OVERMIX. Mixture should be crumbly
- Poke a few holes on the bottom of the crust. Pre-bake for 5-8 minutes or until crust starts to brown.
Frangipane filling
- Cut butter into small ½ " (1.25 cm) cubes.
- Combine almond meal, flour, salt and sugar into a food processor
- While food processor is running, add eggs, one at a time.
- Add butter while food processor is running.
- Add almond extract. If frangipane is too viscous, place in refrigerator to thicken.
- Spread the frangipane into the pre-baked sweet pastry crust
Topping
- Peel and core the pears
- Slice pears uniformly and place in bowl of water with lemon juice to reduce oxidation.
- Using a paper towel, dry each slice before placing them on frangipane.
- Arrange pears to decorate tart.
- Bake in 350° fahrenheit or 176° celcius oven for 30 minutes until frangipane is cooked.
- Cool tart
Glaze (optional)
- Combine apricot jam with water
- Melt jam in microwave until it forms a liquid. 15 seconds depending on strength of microwave.
- Brush the glaze onto the fruit to create a shine. If the jam thickens, you can microwave it again.