Pear Tart with Frangipane (Almond Paste)

I hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving. I sure did even though I spent a lof of my day in my kitchen. But then again, it makes me happy. Unlike many of you, I did not host the Thanksgiving dinner. My sister-in-law did. As the only true-born American in our family of immigrants, she always has the honor to host Thanksgiving dinner. And the rest of us, get to help her out by bringing dishes. I was in charge of appetizers and desserts.

I wanted to bring some appetizers that would be on a light side, and not too bad for you. My choices were:

Small tomato mozzarella
spinach dip with assorted crackers
brie en croute with fig jelly
quiches

And for desserts, I brought a caramel cheesecake and a pear tart. I wanted to bring a chocolate something, but one of the guest brought 2 chocolate desserts, so i decided on the two desserts mentioned above.

Today i will share the pear tart. It is really easy to make. And it is so yummy.

Ingredients for the pie crust for a 9″ round

You can buy an already pie crust in the refrigerated part of your grocery store, or you can make your own. The pie crust recipe is so much better than the store-bought. It is firmer so it will not break when you are trying to transfer the pie from the mold to a tray, and it tastes so much better than a store-bought.

1 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour
1 tsp of baking powder
4 oz or 115 gr. of unsalted butter at room temperature
1/3 cup of sugar
1 egg yolk
2-4 tbsp of water

Sift the flour and the baking powder in a large bowl, then add the sugar and mix well. Add the butter cut into small pieces and mix in it in the flour with your hands, rubbing your hands together. Little by little add a few drops of water and knead the dough. Roll the dough in a ball and refrigerate for 15 minutes or more.

Take the dough out of the refrigerator and place it on the roul’pat, and roll the dough out into a 10 inch circle. With the rolling-pin, lift the dough from the roul’pat and place it into the scalloped tart mold. With the fork, prick the pastry shell with a fork.

Ingredients for the pie:

150 gr or 2/3 cup of butter at room temperature
150 gr or 2/3 cup of powdered sugar
150 gr or 2/3 cup of almond mill
3 large eggs
1 tbsp of almond extract
3 pears ( bosc preferably or red) peeled.
1 tsp of sugar
1 tsp of vanilla extract

First you will want to poach the pears. If you want to poach the pear the traditional way, you will need to poach the pear in a syrup of .

I did not do that, instead I used my round mold. So if you want to save time, do the same. PLace the pears in the large round mold, add 1 tsp of sugar, 1 tsp of vanilla extract and cover the mold with the octogonal silpat. Cook the pear in the microwave for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the frangipane paste. In a bowl, beat the butter and the sugar until it becomes light and fluffy. Then add the almond mill and the flour and mix well. Add the eggs, 1 tsp of almond extract and mix well. Spread this mixture inside the pie.

Then slice each pear in half. Scoop the seeds with a small spoon and slice the pear very thinly in tiny slices.