I have a recipe for Pear and Almond Tart that I have been meaning to try for 2 years now. It has been hanging on my fridge waiting patiently. It was this recipe that gave me the idea for the challenge and I had not read it before I tried it out.
Pear and Almond Tart
Makes enough for: 1 tart
Ingredients
for the pastry
- 350 g flour
- 175 g cold butter, grated
- 100 g sugarlite
- 3 egg yolks
for the filling
- 350 g softened butter
- 200 g sugarlite
- 350 g ground almonds
- 3 eggs
- 3 - 4 pears peeled, cored and quartered (dip into water that has a splash of lemon juice in it to prevent discolouration)
Method
- preheat the oven to 180° Celsius
for the pastry
- combine the flour, butter and sugalite in a food processor using a dough hook
- blend on a low setting until the butter is mixed in thouroughly
- add egg yolks and pulse be patient - and do not be tempted to add water - it will come together!
- the mixture will combine to form a ball
- relax in fridge while you prepare the filling
- roll out on a floured board and line a prepared flan tin butter the sides and bottom well and line the bottom with baking paper. if there are breaks, tears or gaps just press in bits of pastry - no one can see it and it is important that the shell does not leak
- bake blind for 15 minutes I have ceramic baking beans and can recommend getting these as it really makes life easier
for the filling
- cream the butter and the sugalite in your food processor with the metal blade
- add the almonds and mix well
- beat the eggs in one at a time
- pour the mixture into your pastry shell until about 1/3 of the way up the recipe says half the mixture but this will be too much
- place the pears into the mixture the recipe did not say how to prepare them so I did slices (as you can see in the photo) but I think for the end result to look better quarters will be nicer
- add the remainder of the mixture do not overfill otherwise it will pour over the top during the baking process
- bake for 50 - 60 minutes
Click on the links for conversions and notes.
Ingredients for my recipe:
- Flour – in South Africa flour, refers to cake flour. This is not the same as All Purpose Flour in America but you can use it gram for gram with whatever is the equivalent in your country.
- Butter – I always use unsalted butter in my recipes if it is available in the shops. If not, be sure to keep in mind that you need to reduce the amount of salt you use in a recipe.
- Sugarlite – this is a blend of Sugar and 100% Natural Stevia.
- Eggs – In South Africa extra-large eggs weigh between 59g and 66g. I use free range eggs, and always in this weight range. When separating my eggs I do them one at a time. This way I never end up with egg yolk in the whites. If I am not using the egg whites for the recipe I store them in the freezer in bags. Be sure to write on the bag how many egg whites are in each one. Defrost your egg whites in the fridge overnight.
- Ground almonds – I use almond flour when a recipe calls for ground almonds. You can grind your own at home, just be sure to add the sugar to the blender with your whole almonds otherwise you will end up with nut butter.
- Pears – buy firm ones and leave to ripen at home if your recipe calls for soft pears. I prefer mine to be slightly under ripe for cooking and eating.
The awesome tasting end result:
Would I try this again – NO, the texture did nothing for me. But, for the first time I have used a pie flan and it was so easy to use that I have another recipe in mind to try!
It looks pretty enough 🙂
Friday greets to David.
thanks Cindy – will pass your message on when I speak to him later 🙂
Oh my word…I am so sorry I came over to visit….now I am hungry!!!
hope to see you here again!
Oh my word…I am so sorry I came over to visit….now I am hungry!!!
+1
will send some over cyberspace 🙂
Great post. Thanks.
my pleasure!
Nice post. Thanks for sharing.
my pleasure 🙂