Recipe For Crostata Di Pera

~ Tandy

This month we could choose any challenge to do and I chose Life of Pie from this year June. The blog checking line from this challenge is: Rachael from pizzarossa was our lovely June 2013 Daring Bakers’ host and she had us whipping up delicious pies in our kitchens! Cream pies, fruit pies, chocolate pies, even crack pies! There’s nothing like pie! 

"Crostata Di Pera"
Crostata Di Pera

I chose to make something Italian as we leave for Italy in 3 days time. I know that a crostata is best suited to stone fruit and Jamie Oliver uses figs for his recipe. But my local shop had a choice of apples, pears and gooseberries and as I had already made a gooseberry cheesecake I decided to use the pears. The filling is moist and delectable. It is the first time I have made a frangipane tart and I knew I would love it, as I love marzipan and they are so similar. I was not very impressed with my rolling out of my pastry and so it is a bit thicker than I would have liked it to be. But regardless, it tastes good and as I did not work it too much, it is nice and short. That is the key when working with shortcrust pastry. You have to work it as little as possible. My step son came to visit and so I sent him home with half the tart so that Dave and I would have less temptation during the week!

"Pear Frangipane Tart"
Pear Frangipane Tart
Print Recipe
No ratings yet

Crostata Di Pera | Pear Frangipane Tart

Adapted from Jamie’s Italy page 279

Ingredients

for the pastry

  • 125 g butter plus extra for greasing
  • 100 g icing sugar - I used fructose
  • Pinch of salt
  • 255 g flour
  • Zest of 1 lime
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 30 mls milk

for the crostata

  • 285 g blanched almonds divided
  • 55 g flour
  • 255 g butter
  • 255 g caster sugar - I used fructose
  • 2 eggs lightly beaten
  • 5 mls vanilla extract
  • 10 mls calvados
  • 1 pear
  • Simple syrup for brushing
  • 1 sprig rosemary leaves picked and finely chopped

Method

for the pastry

  • Grease a tart tin with butter
  • Cream together the butter, sugar and salt in a food processor
  • Add the flour, zest and yolks and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs
  • Add the milk and process until the dough forms
  • Turn out and wrap ion cling film
  • Leave in the fridge for 1 hour
  • Roll the pastry out quite thin and line your tart tin
  • Put the tin into the freezer for 1 hour
  • Preheat the oven to 180°Celsius
  • Blind bake your tart case for 10 minutes
  • Remove the baking beans and bake for a further 2 minutes
  • Leave to cool while you make the frangipane mixture

for the crostata

  • Blitz 255g almonds in a food processor until fine
  • Place in a large mixing bowl with the flour
  • Cream together the butter and sugar
  • Add to the almond and flour mix together with the eggs, vanilla and calvados
  • Fold the ingredients together until incorporated and the mixture is smooth
  • Place in the fridge for 30 minutes
  • Preheat the oven to 170°Celsius
  • Place the frangipane mixture into the pastry case
  • Core and slice the pear and arrange the slices on top
  • Brush the top of the pears with the simple syrup
  • Roughly chop the rest of the almonds and sprinkle on top together with the rosemary
  • Bake for 40 minutes and leave to cool for 30 minutes before slicing

Click on the links for conversions and notes.

Blog Checking Lines:

In a “celebration” of past Daring Cooks and Daring Bakers challenges, Lisa challenged all of us to search through the Daring Kitchen archives and pick any one we’d like! The REAL challenge was picking which delicious recipe(s) to try!

"Crostata Di Pera | Pear Frangipane Tart"
Crostata Di Pera | Pear Frangipane Tart

What I blogged:

Tandy

Top of Page

Published by Tandy

I am passionate about using regional, seasonable and sustainable produce when I cook. I live in Gordons Bay with my husband and dogs. We visit new places locally and overseas as often as we can to experience the food of the area. Follow along on our adventures!

31 thoughts on “Recipe For Crostata Di Pera”

  16. Pingback: Recipe For Bitterballen - Lavender and Lime

I would ♥ to hear from you (comments will be visible when I reply)

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.