Spiced Pear Frangipane Tart

 Wow. I have had quite a hiatus from this blog... from baking as a whole, really. My entire world has turned upside down since October 2019. I got pregnant shortly after that point, and my early pregnancy nausea and sensitivity to smells definitely caused me to cut back on my baking for a little while. Once I was over that, the pandemic started. As much as I love baking, I prefer not to bake when I cannot give the finished products away. Now I have a wonderful 6-month-old baby, who takes up all my time. I made some cookies the other day, and it took most of the day to bake and decorate them due to the fact that I had to keep stopping to take care of the baby.

I still am not baking that much. It's too much that I cannot share easily, and it typically takes more time and/or energy than I have. I will, however, try to make something and post it every once in a while. We just might not have any massive showstoppers until I can invite some people over to partake.

I did, however, bake a spiced pear frangipane tart a couple of weeks ago. I wanted to have a nice dessert to go with our Shabbat supper. In order to make it pareve, I just used dairy-free margarine instead of butter. I had made this tart once before pre-pandemic, but I never wrote down the recipe I created, nor did I take photos of the bake.

This spiced pear frangipane tart was made for the frangipane tart signature bake from Series 6, Episode 6 of The Great British Bake Off. I am aware that Tamal also made a spiced pear frangipane tart in the television series, but my take is quite different. Outside of being a different recipe (I'm not a copycat), my tart uses different spices and does not include raspberries.

This tart is perfect to make right now because pears are very much in season. Of course pears are already extremely delicious, but poaching them infuses them with even more flavor. Further, the poaching liquid can be saved and reused.

While the pears are poaching, one can prepare the pastry crust. As with many pies and tarts, this frangipane tart requires a blind-bake so that the crust doesn't have a soggy bottom. The sweet pastry crust is soft and malleable, and can be pushed into the pan rather than needing to be rolled out. It is then baked for about 15-20 minutes with baking beads, and a further 15 minutes once the beads are removed.

The frangipane filling is rather easy to mix and pour in. The pears should be sliced thin before being artfully arranged atop the frangipane. One of the trickiest aspects of this bake is combating the wateriness of the pears. Pears are naturally rather wet once they are ripe. Once you add in the poaching process, they are soaking. If you do not pat the pear slices to some semblance of dryness before arranging them on the tart, the liquid will continue to pool during baking and will make it difficult to gauge doneness. Also, it is important to wait until the tart is completely cooled before dusting with confectioner's sugar... In fact, I recommend dusting the sugar immediately before serving.

As a bonus, I am including a picture of some llama cookies I recently made for my neighbor. It was my first opportunity to use my llama cookie cutter, and was definitely one of my best decoration jobs. Perhaps I shall try to recreate them for Series 7, Episode 2's iced biscuit signature challenge.

 

Spiced Pear Frangipane Tart

Ingredients

Poached Pears

3 pears

5 cups water

1 cup sweet marsala wine

2 cups granulated sugar

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cloves

1 tbsp ground cinnamon

1 tbsp ground cardamom

Sweet Pastry Crust

2 cups all purpose flour, loosely packed

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg yolk

11 tbsp unsalted butter

Triple sec or Grand Marnier

Frangipane

1 stick (8 tbsp) unsalted butter, softened

3 large eggs

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 tbsp honey

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp ground cardamom

1 tbsp all purpose flour

1 cup almond flour

confectioner's sugar for decoration

Instructions

1. Poach the pears: Peel the pears. Meanwhile, bring water, marsala wine, sugar, ginger, cloves, cardamom, and cinnamon to a boil over medium-high heat and stir to dissolve sugar. Put to low heat, add pears to poaching liquid, and cover. Let simmer 20-30 minutes. Remove pears, let them rest and cool, and discard liquid.

2. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375°F (190°C).

3. Prepare sweet pastry crust: Mix flour, sugar, and salt together. Cube the butter and work the butter into the flour mixture with your fingers or with a food processor until the mixture is uniformly crumbly. Add the egg yolk and mix together. Add Triple sec or Grand Marnier 1 tbsp at a time until the crust just barely comes together. Roll out thinly and put in a 10 inch tart pan or gently press the dough into the tart pan. Trim excess to about 1/2 inch above the edge of the pan.

4. Bake tart crust: Place foil or parchment paper above the crust and put baking beads or dried beans on top. Bake in preheated oven 15-20 minutes. Remove pan from oven. Remove the beads or beans, trim the remaining excess crust to the level of the tart pan, and return pan to oven for 15 more minutes. Remove and let cool slightly.

5. Mix frangipane filling: Mix together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, vanilla extract, honey, and cardamom and mix. Then add all purpose flour and almond flour and fully incorporate.

6. Assemble tart: Halve the pears, remove the cores and stems, and slice thinly. Carefully pat the pears dry. Spread the frangipane in the tart shell evenly. Artfully arrange the pear slices on top of the frangipane.

7. Bake the assembled tart 40-55 minutes, until the frangipane has risen around the pears and is golden in color. Remove tart and let cool.

8. Immediately before serving, dust some confectioner's sugar over the entire tart. The tart is best eaten at room temperature.