Pear Frangipane Tart Recipe

Categories: Feature, Desserts, Holiday, Recipes, Vegetarian

My friend Sarah brought a pear frangipane tart to my house for dinner one day and I initially was not wowed by the look of it. Until I tried it. And then I became obsessed with recreating it at home because it was one of the most delicious desserts I had ever tasted (and you know how much I love chocolate!) I successfully came up with a recipe that was just as tasty, almondy, not too sweet, and a hit with everyone who tasted it!

Why you’ll love this recipe

Elegant and impressive, but easy!
Can be made ahead and even frozen in advance
Not overly sweet (why we like to cook from scratch!)
Incredibly delicious (unless you dislike almond)
A nice alternative to pie for the holidays

Ingredients

Flour – I use an unbleached all-purpose flour.
Sugar – I use an organic unbleached cane sugar.
Butter – I prefer to use unsalted butter for baking. When a recipe calls for cold butter, I cut the butter into cubes and put back in the fridge until I’m ready to use it.
Eggs – The crust uses 1 egg yolk and you’ll need 2 large eggs for the filling.
Ice water – is a key ingredient when making pie dough. Just make sure no ice goes into the flour mixture when you make the crust.
Vanilla extract – use pure vanilla extract without any artificial flavors or additives for best flavor.
Almond extract – is very strong. A little goes a long way.
Dark rum – is optional in this recipe, but it does give a rich flavor.
Almond flour – I prefer to use blanched almond flour or you can use almond meal (the filling will come out slightly darker and coarser though).
Lemon zest – I use a microplane to zest lemon. This one is my favorite! The zest is optional in this recipe, but I like it. You only need a 1/2 lemon.
Pears – make it easy on yourself and use store-bought pear halves in a jar or a can instead of making your own or you can use very ripe, raw pears (just peel, core, and slice them).
Apricot preserves – is one of my secrets to adding shine to pastries. You brush this at the end when the tart comes out of the oven. If you don’t have it, you can also brush it with maple syrup.

How to make it?

Make the pastry: You can do this by hand, in a bowl with a mixer with the paddle attachment, or with a food processor. Combine the flour, sugar and salt.
Add the cubed butter and turn on the mixer or food processor (using pulse button) and combine until the butter is in the size of small peas. You are not looking to blend the flour and butter, just “cut” the butter into tiny pieces.
Whisk together the egg yolk, ice water, and vanilla and pour into the flour-butter mixture. Mix until just moistened. If you see little pieces of butter, that’s totally fine.
Pull together the dough into a disc and roll it out right away if it’s not greasy or warm, or wrap with plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
Roll out on countertop dusted with flour into a 12-inch diameter. Fold in half and put in a 9- or 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Unfold, press into the pan and up the sides. Trim off any excess. Cover and freeze or refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Prick the pastry with a fork, place on a baking sheet, line the top of the pastry with parchment or foil and fill with pastry weights (I use old dried beans.) Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and weights. If the pastry looks a little wet, bake for another 5-10 minutes or until pale golden.
While the tart crust is baking, prepare the filling and pears.
Make the frangipane filling: In a mixing bowl, cream the softened butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and beat until combined well and smooth. Stir in the vanilla and almond extracts and the rum, if you’re using it.
Stir in the almond flour, all-purpose flour, and salt, and mix until just combined. Stir in the lemon zest if using.
Drain the pears and pat dry with paper towels. Slice crosswise into 5 or 6 pieces.
Spread the frangipane filling over the prebaked crust. Slide a metal spatula underneath each sliced pear half and press on the pear slices to fan out. Transfer on top of the filling. I like to place the smaller end toward the center, but you can arrange the sliced pears as you like.
Place tart pan carefully on a baking sheet and bake at 375 degrees or until puffed and golden brown, about 40-45 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack.
Optional step: brush the top of the tart with apricot glaze or maple syrup to add a glossy look.

Tips

Read through the entire recipe first before starting since there are a few steps that require chilling the dough before rolling and baking the crust.
See this recipe for how to poach pear halves.
This tart can be done in stages, which is how I would do it. You can make the tart dough now and freeze it. Or you can buy pie dough or puff pastry. I do prefer the sweet crust here which is not the same as pastry you make for a pie. It is crisper and goes beautifully with this filling. You can make the filling the day before and refrigerate it. And you can buy cooked pears instead of doing them yourself.

Substitutions

Tart crust – traditional pie dough or puff pastry. I imagine you can swap in a good GF flour blend, but I would roll it in between two sheets of plastic wrap.
Dark rum – omit if you don’t have it.
Almond flour – almond meal
Poached pears – you can use very ripe, raw pears (just peel, core, and slice them) or another ripe fresh fruit that goes well with almond, such as stone fruit in the summer or figs (you just need more of them and no need to slice the halves.)
Apricot glaze – use maple syrup instead to add a glossy look.

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Pear Frangipane Tart

Serves: 6

Ingredients

Tart crust (this is a sweet pastry crust and it is lovely, but feel free to buy traditional pie dough if you want to skip this step)
1 ¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus additional for rolling out
⅓ cup unbleached cane sugar
¼ teaspoon sea salt
8 Tablespoons (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into ¼ inch cubes
1 large egg yolk
2 Tablespoons ice water
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
____________________________
Frangipane: This frangipane is not a traditional recipe, but instead uses more almond meal and less butter.
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
⅔ cup unbleached granulated cane sugar or maple sugar (darker sugars will darken the filling)
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
½ teaspoon pure almond extract
2 Tablespoons dark rum (optional but gives a rich flavor)
8 ounces (2 cups) almond flour or almond meal or weigh 8 ounces of almonds and process them in a food processor until finely ground.
2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour or your favorite GF flour blend (optional - makes the filling a little lighter, but totally not essential)
¼ teaspoon sea salt
Zest from ½ small lemon (optional)
3 poached pears, halved (you can do this from scratch or buy them - make it easy on yourself and get store-bought; if you have very ripe, raw pears, just peel and core them, slice and place on the tart filling)
____________________________
Apricot Glaze (optional but really makes the tart look professional):
⅓ cup apricot preserves
½ tablespoon Cognac, Calvados, Rum or Water
(or just brush lightly with maple syrup)

Instructions

Make the pastry: You can do this by hand, in a bowl with a mixer with the paddle attachment, or with a food processor. Combine the flour, sugar and salt.
Add the cubed butter and turn on the mixer or food processor (using pulse button) and combine until the butter is in the size of small peas. You are not looking to blend the flour and butter, just “cut” the butter into tiny pieces.
Whisk together the egg yolk, ice water, and vanilla and pour into the flour-butter mixture. Mix until just moistened. If you see little pieces of butter, that’s totally fine.
Pull together the dough into a disc and roll it out right away if it’s not greasy or warm, or wrap with plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
Roll out on countertop dusted with flour into a 12-inch diameter. Fold in half and put in a 9- or 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Press into the pan and up the sides. Trim off any excess. Cover and freeze or refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Prick the pastry with a fork, place on a baking sheet, line the top of the pastry with parchment or foil and fill with pastry weights (I use old dried beans.) Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and weights. If the pastry looks a little wet, bake for another 5-10 minutes or until pale golden.
While the tart crust is baking, prepare the filling and pears.
Make the frangipane filling: In a mixing bowl, cream the softened butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and beat until combined well and smooth. Stir in the vanilla and almond extracts and the rum, if you’re using it.
Stir in the almond flour, all-purpose flour, and salt, and mix until just combined. Stir in the lemon zest if using.
Drain the pears and pat dry with paper towels. Slice crosswise into 6 pieces.
Spread the frangipane filling over the prebaked crust. Slide a metal spatula underneath each sliced pear half and press on the pear slices to fan out. Transfer on top of the filling. I like to place the smaller end toward the center, but you can arrange the sliced pears as you like.
Place tart pan carefully on a baking sheet and bake at 375 degrees or until puffed and golden brown, about 40-45 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack.
Optional step: brush the top of the tart with apricot glaze or maple syrup to add a glossy look.
Cool completely before serving. Can be made a day in advance and refrigerated. Bring to room temp before serving. I even froze it and defrosted it overnight in the fridge and brought it to room temp.

Notes

Apricot Glaze: In a small saucepan heat the apricot preserves to a simmer. Remove from heat
and strain to get rid of lumps. Add the Cognac or water. Brush all over the warm tart with a pastry brush. You just want a thin coating of jam for shine and finish. Remove from the pan and serve warm or at room temp.
If you use almonds with the skin or natural almond meal, the frangipane is a little darker. No big deal, but it will look different from a frangipane made with almond flour or blanched almonds.
You can also grind your own almonds in the food processor for this recipe which is a little cheaper than buying almond flour.

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