This beautiful Parisian tart was created on the Bourdaloue street in the 19th century and since then it conquered lots of gourmands’ hearts! Fragrant creamy frangipane, spicy white wine poached pears, crumbly sweet pastry. How can we possibly make it even better? But we can — by adding a bunch of tangy fresh berries!
Ingredients
Poached pears:
- 4-6 small and firm peeled pears
- 500ml white wine or 350 ml dessert wine
- 400ml water
- 200-250g sugar
- 1-2 vanilla beans (cut and seeded)
- 3-4 green cardamom pods, lightly crushed (you can also replace this with saffron or star anise + cinnamon stick)
Sweet pastry dough (makes two 9-11 inch tart shells):
- 300g all-purpose flour
- 7g baking powder
- 70g confectioners sugar
- 50g almond flour
- 2g sea salt
- 280g European style cold butter (82+ % fat) grated like cheese
- 55-60g egg yolks (about 3)
Pastry cream:
- 150ml whole milk
- 50ml heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 vanilla bean(cut lengthwise and seeded)
- 2 egg yolks
- 50g confectioners sugar
- 20g corn (or potato) starch
Frangipane:
- 75g room temperature butter
- 40g confectioners sugar
- 1 room temperature egg
- 100g almond flour (or almond meal)
- 30ml rum (optional)
Instructions
One day before baking
To poach the pears
In a large saucepan stir everything together, keeping both, the pod and the seeds of vanilla bean. Bring to boil, then add the pears and simmer them on low for a bit less than an hour or until they become translucent on top. Let them cool and refrigerate overnight in the poaching liquid.
To make the dough
Sift the flour, baking powder and confectioners sugar together into a large bowl. Stir in the almond flour and salt. Add the butter and toss it with your hands until it resembles rough sand. Add the yolks. Mix until smooth and elastic, but do not overmix. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight (or at least for 6 hours).
To make the pastry cream
In the saucepan combine all but 2 tablespoons of the milk, the butter, the vanilla pod and seeds. Place over medium heat. Meanwhile, in the small bowl whisk together the egg yolks, cornstarch, confectioners sugar and the remaining milk. When the milk mixture comes to a boil, remove the vanilla bean and turn off the heat. Slowly pour the hot milk mixture in a steady stream over the egg mixture whisking constantly. Place the mixture back on the heat and thicken it, whisking all over, just until it becomes soft but uniform. Transfer into a container or bowl, place a sheet of the plastic wrap directly on the top of the cream and refrigerate overnight or until it cools down.
Measure 75g of butter and let it soften in the room temperature for the next day.
The day of baking
Remove the dough from the fridge. Let one half rest for 25 mins and freeze the other half for the future use. Roll the dough so it’s about 0.5 cm thick (you can make it thinner or thicker to your liking). Reserve the trimmings for decoration. Place the rolled dough into the tart shell and poke multiple holes with a fork. Refrigerate uncovered for 1-2 hours. Preheat the fan assisted oven to 170C/340F.
Meanwhile make the frangipane. Cream together the softened butter and confectioners sugar, add the almond flour and beat again, then add the egg with the pastry cream and beat until the mixture becomes homogenous (about 3 min). Set aside.
Line the pastry shell with a piece of waxed paper and baking beads. Blind bake for approximately 20 mins, then remove from the oven, brush the bottom of the crust with egg yolk and bake again for a couple of minutes. After that let it cool completely. When the shell is ready to be filled, spread the frangipane evenly. Place the poached pears into the almond cream. You can also cut them in half, slice or fill with the ganache or caramel sauce. Bake for 20-25 min. Serve it warm or cold with fresh berries, toasted almonds and buttery crumbles made from the trimmings. Bake the trimmings for a bit right after your tart is ready.
