Pear Frangipane Tart

A sweet and buttery tart filled with poached pears and a creamy almond filling. This delicious pear frangipane tart is a must try!

After sharing my sweet tart crust recipe with you recently, it was time for another tart recipe! For todays dessert, we are using crips pears and baking them in a bed of creamy frangipane. The combination of the sweet and slightly sour pears with the rich and nutty almond filling is a delicious combo, especially now that pears are in season.

On the risk of sounding cliché, I love fall. There are so many delicious fruits and veggies in season and life generally feels more relaxed and cozy. Right now, I’m already 100% in the fall spirit and yet the temperatures have been more summerlike, as opposed to autumn. The fun part about being a blogger is always being ahead of the seasons. As summer ends, you are already testing Thanksgiving recipes, or even Christmas recipes. Being ahead of it all is important, but definitely also strange at times. Like when you find yourself digging through Christmas decor while it has 28°C outside….weird indeed!

Or when you gift Halloween donuts to friends and neighbours 6 weeks before Halloween. You definitely get weird looks and I always end up explaining myself, in order to keep people from thinking I’m a weirdo who bakes Christmas cookies in September. Although, I’d definitely like to be friends with a weirdo like that!

Frangipane Filling

Frangipane consists of ground almonds, butter, eggs, sugar, a little bit of flour and flavourings. It has a delicious rich and creamy taste and pairs well with almost any type of fruit. In todays recipe, we are flavouring our frangipane with lemon zest and rum.

Since sharing my raspberry frangipane tart, I have been hooked on this creamy almond paste. Creating another tart recipe with frangipane has been on my recipe idea list for some time now. With fall here and pears in season, I had the idea to combine these two ingredients in a tart…and I am sure glad I did. The result is super delicious! If you have never tried frangipane before and like the taste of almonds, be sure to give it a try!

Poached Pears

This has actually been my first time poaching anything. Up till now, poaching was something extremely intimidating to me. I actually don’t even know why, since it really isn’t difficult and quickly gives fruit so much flavour! To poach the pears, you simply add all the ingredients for the poaching liquid in a pot and bring it to a boil. Then you simmer the pears in the liquid so they can soak up all those lovely aromatics. Nothing scary here!

While the tart is comprised of several steps, the good news is, that you don’t have to do them all in one session if you don’t want to. I oftentimes make the tart dough a day ahead when I am making a tart, just to cut down on the steps. The unbaked tart dough keeps well in the fridge for up to 3 days, or you can even freeze it for longer. The pears can also be poached ahead of time and stored in their poaching liquid for up to 2 days. This is a great way to save yourself some time, if you are entertaining.

Pear Frangipane Tart

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• Prep Time: 50 minutes
• Cook Time: 45 minutes
• Total Time: 4 hours (includes chilling time)
• Yield: 1 tart (serves 6) 1x

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

1x sweet tart crust

Poached Pears

• 3 firm pears
• 1l water (4 cups)
• 4 tablespoons sugar
• peel of 1 medium lemon*
• 4 whole cloves
• 1 star anis
• 2 cinnamon sticks

Frangipane

• 80g butter, softened (1/3 cup)
• 6 tablespoons powdered sugar
• zest of 1 medium lemon*
• 3 medium eggs
• 120g almond flour** (1 and 1/4 cup)
• 2 teaspoons rum
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Additional

• 2 tablespoons apricot jam
• 1 tablespoon water
• powdered sugar
• toasted sliced almonds

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Instructions

1. Combine the apricot and water in a pot and heat until the jam has liquified. Spread the jam onto the tart bottom and place into the freezer to chill.
2. To make the poached pears, peel the pears, leaving the stem on. Add all the ingredients, apart from the pears, to a pot and bring to a boil. Turn down to a simmer and add the pears. Simmer for 15 minutes, then remove from heat. Leave the pears inside the poaching liquid while making the frangipane.
3. To make the frangipane, beat the butter, sugar and lemon zest until pale and fluffy. Then add in the eggs, almond flour, rum, flour, and vanilla extract and mix until well combined.
4. Spread the frangipane onto the tart and smooth out.
5. Remove the pears from their liquid and thoroughly pat dry with paper towels. Remove the stems, core and cut in half. 
6. Cut each pear half into slices, pick up the pear slices using a broad knife and gently place onto the frangipane. 
7. Place into the middle rack of the oven and bake for 45 minutes at 180°C (350F).*** Let it cool completely, sprinkle with powdered sugar and toasted sliced almonds before serving.

Notes

*use organic untreated lemons

**storebought or homemade. To make your own: grind blanched almonds to a fine meal and sieve to remove any lumps.

***the recipe purposefully doesn’t require you to preheat the oven as we are placing the chilled tart pan directly into the oven, if using ceramic it could crack due to sudden change of temperature

The tart is best enjoyed on the day it is made. If stored overnight, the frangipane filling causes the tart crust to lose its crispiness.