I think tarts are an under appreciated art form. The sweet, tender crust is the perfect frame for just about any filling. This pear almond tart features poached pears laying in a bed of almond cream and surrounded by toasted almonds. The flavor combination is classically French and looks sophisticated enough to be served at any special occasion. But, it’s really quite simple to create and there’s no reason not to have it on a Tuesday or for breakfast or as an after school snack.
This pear almond tart was my Thanksgiving dessert offering this year. Along with the tart I served Poached Pear Ginger Cake and Caramel Apple Pumpkin Pie.
Ingredients
- 2 1/3 cups (300g) all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup (90g) confectioners' sugar
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (200g) unsalted butter, cold, cut into small pieces
- 1 tsp lemon or orange zest
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 tbsp water more if it isn't coming together
- 4 Poached Bosc or Bartlett Pears there are only 3 in the tart I made and I think it needed one more.
- 1 cup almond cream (frangipane)
- 1 cup toasted almonds crushed
- 1 tbsp sugar for dusting over the top
Instructions
- Mix the flour, sugar and salt together in a food processor. Add the butter and pulse until the butter is cut into the flour and you can no longer see pieces. The flour will still be powdery. Pulse in the zest. Add the yolk and water, mix until the dough comes together. Pour it onto the counter and knead until it is a smooth ball. Wrap and refrigerator until it is well chilled, at least an hour. Can be made 2 days in advance or frozen for up to a month.
- Roll out the tart dough to fit a 9-inch tart pan and blind bake it until golden brown (you can see directions on rolling and blind baking here).
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Fill the baked shell with almond cream. Slice the poached pears in half (leaving the stem on), make thin slices of pears, leaving them together, so you can still see their form. Place them over the almond cream. Sprinkle the toasted almonds around the edge, dust the whole tart with the sugar and bake until the almond cream is puffed and golden. It will take about 20 minutes, give or take, depending on if your frangipane was cold or if you just mixed it up before filling the tart shell.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
This tart is so beautiful! I love almond and pear combined together and I’m sure this tart is simply delicious ♥
Hi Natalie,
Thank you, I adore pears and don’t use them nearly enough!
Cheers, Zoë
I love love how gorgeous this one is! I feel like I always forget about pears, so this is lovely!
Hi Abby,
I really only use pears at this time of year and I always forget how much I love them!
Zoë
Love your baking and your videos!!!
Anat
This tart is such a beauty! Love the combination of pears and almonds, always so satisfying and delicious!
Great recipe ! Thanks for sharing us,.
Just beautiful recipes!
I love all your recipes!
Hello Zoe! I absolutely adore your recipes! I have a question on this one, for how many people is it?
Hi Andrea,
I’d say 8 large pieces.
Thanks, Zoë
Some of the directions seem to be missing–how to poach pears, how long to bake??
Hi Barbara, you can find the instructions on how to poach the pears in the ingredient list (it links to here: http://zoebakes.com/2012/11/08/chai-poached-pears-and-sorbet/). The blog post mentions to bake until the almond cream is puffed and golden.
Can you please give an approximation of the bake time. Aside from the visual cues. Thank you
Hi Scarlett, it will depend on if your frangipane is cold or if you’ve just mixed it, but about 20 minutes give or take depending on the temperature of the filling. I hope this helps!
Made this today-love love love it!
I followed the recipe quite closely and the result was great. The pie crust seems to make more than what’s needed for a 9” pan but otherwise the recipe was accurate. I poached the pears in a chai bath tea rather than using individual spices.
I saw this recipe years ago and thought it was gorgeous but didn’t want to commit to all the work: pie crust, poached pear… :S
However, I’ve been in a mood for baked goods with pears, I made a couple pear gingerbread cakes (upside down and right side up from various bakers) as a build up to Zoe’s recipe.
So yesterday, I bit the bullet. I poached the pear (so easy–but I did some shortcuts with chai tea bags), mixed up the dreaded pie crust and popped it in the fridge and waited until I could muster up the energy to roll out the pie crust and fill it up with almond cream.
Overall, it was…quiet easy. Multiple steps but basic skills. It didn’t turn out perfect because I didn’t use pie weights so the crust shrunk, and the bottom puffed (I poked it with a knife and slapped it back down) however it led to a nice thick layer of crust on the edged. Then I poured in the almond cream into the hot crust and it immediately started to melt, so in a panic I threw in the sliced poached pears (luckily I prepped this) and tossed it into the oven. Then I remembered the almonds around the edges, I only had sliced almond, but I grabbed the tart from the oven, and put almonds around the edges and it looked SO pretty.
After baking for 20 minutes, I checked it and it was very wobbly in the center. So I baked it for another 10 minutes…still wobbly. I gave up, took it out and reread the recipe. I forgot the flour. HOWEVER, a few hours later, I went heck, let me wrap the edges with aluminium foil (to stop browning) and just bake it some more (and finished it off with a light broil. Fingers crossed it would taste good Christmas morning (today).
Well. Let me tell you, even with the nerve-wracking mishaps, it turned out AMAZING. The flavors, the crust, the pear. Delicious.
TLDR:
If you forget the flour in the almond cream, just bake it longer with edges wrapped so it doesn’t get too dark.
If you poured the almond cream into a hot crust and it looks like it’s melting, NO PROBLEM.
If you were lazy and did a shortcut of the poached pear with chai tea bags (with star anise and cinnamon), IT’S OKAY!
I will 10000% make this again. Gorgeous and delicious!!