serves
6-8
prep
30 minutes
cook
2 hours
difficulty
Easy
serves
6-8
people
preparation
30
minutes
cooking
2
hours
difficulty
Easy
level
Ingredients
Sweet shortcut pastry
- 150 g unsalted butter, diced
- 300 g plain flour, extra for dusting
- 100 g icing sugar
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 tbsp cold water
Almond cream
- 250 g butter
- 250 g sugar
- 3 eggs, lightly beaten
- 250 g almond meal
- 80 g plain flour
- 1 vanilla bean, scraped
- 3 ripe pears, peeled and poached
- 125 g honey, to glaze
Resting time: 30 minutes
Chilling time: 1 hour
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, sift the sugar and flour together.
- Cut the butter into the flour using a pastry cutter or your fingers or a food processor. Add the egg yolks then mix the dough until it forms a ball, add cold water 1 tbsp at a time if dough is too dry.If dough is too soft, flatten to a disc and wrap with cling film. Refrigerate for 15 minutes before rolling.
- Roll out into 3-mm thick disc and line a 25-cm tart tin. Dock with a fork and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Pre-heat oven to 200°C.
- Cover the dough with baking paper and place pie weights on top. Blind bake for 45 minutes. Remove from oven and remove pie weights from the baked tart shell.
- Bake for a further 15 minutes, the tart should be golden-brown and crispy.
- Remove tart shell from oven and cool down completely. Once tart shell is cool, it is ready for use.
- Meanwhile, to make the filling, beat the butter and sugar until combined, then add the almond meal and flour to form a paste. Add eggs, one at a time, as well as the vanilla bean and mix well to form a batter.
- Preheat oven to 170°C. Fill tart shell with almond cream just below the top of the tart shell. Use an offset spatula to even the top.
- Cut the poached pears in half lengthwise then place on top of the almond cream.
- Bake the tart for 45-60 minutes or until the frangipane is set. Remove tart from oven.
- While tart is still warm, place honey in a small saucepan and warm until runny. Brush on top of the tart to finish.
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Cook's Notes
Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.
