Pear & Almond Cream Tart

By SushiChick

Sometimes baking is less like cooking and more like chemistry. The precise measurements leave no room for error, but the completed product left dinner party guests vying for the last slice.

Ingredients

• For the Almond Cream:
• 1/2 cup + 2 1/2 tablespoons almond meal (or almond flour)
• 2 1/4 teaspoons all purpose flour
• 2 1/2 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/8 teaspoon organic almond extract
• 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons room temperature egg (approximately 1 egg, with leftovers)
• For the pie:
• 1 pre-made 9" uncooked pie crust, in pan (or you can make your own and fit into a shallow 9" pie pan)
• 1 large fresh Bartlett pear, washed and dried
• Almond Cream
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla sugar (combine sugar with vanilla beans and pods for at least 24 hours ahead of making this recipe)

Details

Servings 8
Preparation time 10mins
Cooking time 60mins
Adapted from sweetlavenderbakeshoppe.com

Preparation

Step 1

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and set racks to the middle of your oven.

To make the Almond Cream:

1. Crack egg into a bowl and whisk together completely. Set aside.

2. In the bowl of your stand mixer, fitted with your paddle attachment, beat your butter on medium to medium-high until light in color and the consistency of mayonnaise. This should take just a few minutes.

3. While that is beating, sift your almond meal and flour into a bowl, making sure to press out any and all clumps. Once clumps have been eliminated, add the remaining almond meal in sieve to your bowl.

4. Sift your powdered sugar and add to your beating butter, with the mixer on low. Stop, scrape down sides and bottom of bowl, and mix for another 2-3 minutes on medium, until light and fluffy.

5. Stop mixer, scrape down sides and bottom again, and add your almond extract. Mix until incorporated. Add your almond and flour mixture and beat on medium another 30 seconds.

6. Stop and scrape mixer bowl again and add your 2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons of egg. (With your well beaten egg, just scoop and measure out with measuring spoons.) Mix until combined, another 20-30 seconds. Scrape bowl and mix slightly again.

Place mixer bowl in refrigerator until needed.

To make pie:

1. Core and cut your large Bartlett pear into 1/8" thick slices. I also cut each of those slices in half, width-wise to make sure they fit into my pie shell perfectly.

2. If you have a pastry piping bag or fancy a readymade Ziplock, feel free to pipe in the almond cream. However, the amount of almond cream that this recipe makes Otherwise, you can use a spatula to delicately spoon it into the crust, smoothing and evening out the layers

3. Next, fan your pear slices so that they spiral from the outer to the inner of the pie. Sprinkle the vanilla sugar over the pears.