Almond and pear tart with amaretti biscuits

November 28, 2018

Almond and pear tart with amaretti biscuits.

  • 3 pears (try to choose them all the same size and still slightly hard)
  • 3-4 amaretti biscuits, crushed

For the pastry:

  • 200 g of flour 
  • 3 tablespoons of fine sugar 
  • 100 g of cold butter, diced
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tablespoon of cold water

For the frangipane (almond cream):

  • 100 g of unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 100g caster sugar
  • 100 g ground almonds
  • 2 eggs (small or medium)
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1 tbsp of rum (preferably dark rum)

Start with preparing the dough by rubbing in with your fingers all the ingredients and kneading the pastry until well combined. Form a bowl, cover it in cling film and leave in the fridge to rest for a minimum of 30 minutes.

Grease a round baking tray of 26 cm in diameter with butter.

Take the pastry from the fridge and roll it out. Place it in the tin and gently press the dough onto the bottom and inside of the baking dish. Trim the edges by rolling a rolling pin over the tart tin. Prick the bottom with a fork, line the dish with baking parchment and fill with dry beans or rice (this process will prevent the pastry from rising).

Place  the baking tin in a preheated oven to 180 C and bake blind for 10-15 minutes.

Take it out and leave to cool.

Sprinkle the base of the tart with crushed amaretti biscuits.

Make the frangipane cream by whisking the eggs with the sugar, then incorporate the butter, almonds and the rum in the end.

Spread the almond cream onto the tart base (on top of the amaretti).

Now peel the pears and cut them length-ways in half. Remove the core with the seeds and slice each half (not too thinly) keeping the slices intact so they resemble the shape of the pear.

Lift each “sliced pear half” and arrange them on top of the frangipane. The thin ends of the pear  haves should meet in the middle of the tart.

I you want a better caramelisation, sprinkle the pears with some fine sugar.

Bake for around 40 minutes in the preheated oven to 180 C. The frangipane filling should rise in between the pears and turn golden in colour.

Serve the tart either warm or at room temperature sprinkling it with blanched almond flakes and icing sugar. A scoop of a vanilla ice cream is the perfect touch to serve with it.