Pear and Frangipane Tart

Arguably, one of the best shows to have come out of the modern era is the Great British Baking Show. A recipe that seems to be known by all of the contestants, as well as being a technical challenge, are frangipane tarts. They are always accompanied by a fruit. Well, in this weeks “what is in my pantry” I found canned pears. Therefore, my pear and frangipane tart was born!

I love tarts

Tarts always remind me of my grandmother. Despite her being a wonderful pastry chef, every Easter we would pick up a fruit tart from our local bakery. The tart base would be pastry, with a layer of chocolate, then a custard, topped with fruit. It was so delicious. I have talked about tarts and pies here.

What you will need

For the Tart:
1 cup superfine brown rice flour
2 Tbs potato starch
2 Tbs tapioca starch
1/2 tbsp psyllium husk
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold and diced
3 to 4 Tbs (45 to 60 ml) ice cold water

For the filling:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup almond flour (almond meal is the same- works just as fine)
1 tbsp tapioca starch
1 tsp almond extract
Pears- it is up to you if you use fresh or canned. It will also be up to you to decide how many you wish to place upon your tart.

Equipment:
Food Processor
Mixer

How to put it all together

1. To make the crust, place all of the dry ingredients into your food processor. Pulse a few times.
2. Add your diced pieces of butter and begin to pulse. You do not want to completely dissolve the butter, just to make it into peasized pieces.
3. Add your water as you continue to pulse. I ended up needing around 5 tbsp of ice water. As you pulse, the dough will come together to form a ball and wrap in plastic wrap, place in the fridge.
4. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours.
5. Remove your dough from the fridge. Use brown rice flour to flour two pieces of parchment paper and roll it out between them. Take your rolled out dough and mold it to your tart pan. Place back in the fridge for 20 minutes.
6. Set your oven to 350°F in the meantime.
7. While the dough is in the fridge, make your filling.
8. Cream together your butter and sugar. Add the rest of your ingredients and mix for a few minutes. It will appear to be like a loose paste.
9. Remove your tart from the fridge and will it with the frangipane mixture. Top the mixture with your pears and then proceed to bake for 40 minutes. Allow it to sit on the counter until it is cool and then remove it from your tart pan.
10. Serve and enjoy!

Why should you make this pear and frangipane tart?

It is absolutely delicious and in the continued weirdness that is this Covid-19 world, sometimes finding traditional ingredients can be a bit dicey. Why not give something new (like pear and frangipane tart) a try?

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