John's Pear and Almond-Cream Tart
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- Prep Time 40 minutes
- Total Time 2 hours 40 minutes, plus cooling
- Yield Serves 8
Ingredients
For The Dough
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for rolling
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
- 2 to 4 tablespoons ice water
For The Filling
- 1 cup blanched almonds
- 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
- 1 large egg
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
- 1/2 cup apricot jam
- 2 cans (15 ounces each) pear halves, drained, patted dry, and sliced lengthwise
Directions
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Make dough: In a food processor, combine flour, salt, and granulated sugar; pulse to combine. Add butter; pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal, with just a few pea-size pieces of butter remaining. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons ice water. Pulse until dough is crumbly but holds together when squeezed (if necessary, gradually add up to 2 tablespoons more ice water).
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Transfer dough (still crumbly) onto a piece of plastic wrap. Form into a 3/4-inch-thick disk; wrap tightly in plastic. Refrigerate until firm, 1 hour.
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Preheat oven to 375 degrees. On a lightly floured work surface, roll dough to a 12-inch round. Fit into a 9-inch removable-bottom tart pan, pressing up sides. Run a rolling pin across the top of pan to trim the edge; refrigerate.
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Make filling: In a food processor, pulse almonds with confectioners' sugar until finely ground. Add butter, egg, flour, salt, and almond extract; process almond cream until well combined.
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Spread cup jam on bottom of tart shell, then spread almond cream on top; chill for 15 minutes. Arrange pear slices in a fan pattern over almond cream; place tart on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake 40 to 45 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and almond cream is puffed and set. Transfer tart to a wire rack; let cool in pan. Remove tart from pan. Melt remaining cup jam; brush over tart.
Cook's Note
You can make the dough up to 3 days ahead and refrigerate it. Feel free to use hazelnuts instead of almonds in the filling and to choose another type of jam.
This was fantastic! I made it twice in a row as I had some delicious pears I needed to use up. Blanching & skinning the almonds was tedious, but the cream was intensely nutty & fragrant, so it was worth the time & effort. I think my tart pan was a bit too big as I had to stretch the dough a bit both times I made it, but the dough itself tasted good, and everyone enjoyed the dessert. It also looked beautiful.
This was the best Pear Tart ever! I increased the filling ingredients and baked in a deeper tart pan. I spread the preparation over three days: crust day one; poached pears day two; day three made filling and completed the tart. Better than the very expensive tarts I usually buy, and with the work spread over three days, it was very easy to accomplish. This was my "show case" dessert for Thanksgiving and it goes without saying that it was the favorite of my guests.
I used an 11" tart pan and so added a little more almonds, powdered sugar, flour and an extra egg to the filling and more flour and water to the crust recipe with very positive results. Next time I'll pour a little melted jam over pears for shine.
My last comment didn't show up all the way..
I was trying to say I used salted butter and just a pinch of salt and it was NOT too salty at all. It was perfect.
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...continued:
My last comment didn't show up all the way..
I was trying to say I used salted butter and just a pinch of salt and it was NOT too salty at all. It was perfect.
At Thanksgiving everyone loved it and raved over how delicious
RE:About it being too salty-- I used salted butter
RE:About it being too salty-- I used salted butter
I agree, it was too salty!
I just made it last night, but I used frozen dough and already ground almond meal. The tart was really good, but I thought it was just a tad too salty. I would reduce it to 1/2 teaspoon
I made this tart and it was so salty it was inedible. I used unsalted butter, as directed. Is that teaspoon of salt correct for the almond filling?