These Pear Frangipane Tartlets, aka Tartes Bourdaloue in French, are delicious little Fall and Winter French pastries. The Sweet Shortcrust Pastry shells are filled with a light Almond Cream and topped with melt-in-your-mouth Poached Pears. These delicate pear tarts are sure to impress!
1Eggmedium size or equivalent to 50 grams of egg without the shell
50gr (1/2 cup)Almond Meal
Poached Pears
4Pearslarge
1,5litre (6 cups)Water
50gr (1/4 cup)Caster Sugar
1/2Lemon Juice
Instructions
Sweet Shortcrust Pastry
Place the soft Butter and Powdered Sugar in the bowl of your mixer and cream together on medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes, or until pale.
Add the Egg, Almond Meal and Salt amd mix until combined. Slowly mix in the Flour, stopping as soon as a dough comes together to avoid over-working the pastry.
Roll the pastry between two sheets of baking paper (see note 1), then place on a flat tray in the fridge to rest for at least 1 hour.
Line your Pastry Rings or Tartlet Pans (see note 2) with the chilled pastry, prick the bottom of each pastry with a small fork and place back in the fridge to rest for at least an hour.
Preheat your oven on 160'C/350'F and place the tartlet pastries in the freezer while the oven is preheating. Blind-Bake for about 15 minutes (see note 3) then set aside to cool down.
Almond Cream Filling (Frangipane)
Cream the very soft Butter and Sugar on medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes or or until pale and almost doubled in volume. Slowly mix in the Egg, then add the Almond Meal. Mix to combine. Set aside (see note 4).
Poached Pears
Peel the pears (keep the stems).
Place the Water (see note 5), Sugar and Lemon Juice in a medium size Pot and heat up on low. When the sugar has dissolved, add the peeled Pears and leave to poach for 10 to 15 minutes or until soft (see note 6).
Remove from the liquid and leave to cool down, the cut each pear in half, remove the core and thinly slice each pear halves.
Assembling the tarts
Preheat your oven on 160'C/325'F.
Place the Frangipane Cream in a Piping Bag with round tip (or cut of the bottom of the bag)(see note 7) and pipe the cream in each blind-baked pastry cases, about halfway up (see note 8).
Arrange the sliced Pear Halves above the Cream (see note 9) then place in the oven to bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the pastry is golden, the cream has puffed and the pears are soft.
Optional: when cool, dust with a little bit of Icing Sugar to finish the tarts.
Notes
Disclaimer: I highly recommend using the metric (weight in grams / liquid in ml) ingredient measurements instead of cups/spoons for the best and more precise result.General Info:This recipe makes 9 Tartlets, sized 10 cm / 4 inch.Find more information, step by step instructions, tips and troubleshooting of these elements in their respective recipes:
Roll the pastry relatively thinly - about 2 to 3 mm (1/10 inch) thick.
I recommend using perforated tart rings, which gives your the most evenly baked pastry crust. Alternatively, you can use any 10 cm / 4 inch tartlet pans you have.
The bottom of the pastries should feel relatively dry to the touch and the pastry should have a very light golden colour.
If baking the tarts straight away, you can keep the cream at room temperature while you poach the pears. If making it in advance, cover with wrap touching the surface and keep in the fridge.
You might need more or less water, depending on the size of the pot you use. The pears should be fully submerged in the liquid, so add more water if required.
The time it will take for the pears to poach might vary based on the fruit variety and how ripe the pears are. They need to be soft but still hold their shape / not be mushy when you slice them.
If you were keeping the cream in the fridge, I recommend taking it out of the fridge about 30 minutes before piping so that it comes back to room temperature. It will be easier to pipe when softer.
Make sure not to over-fill the pastry cases as the cream will puff a fair bit in the oven. Don't fill more than half the height of the pastry shells with the cream.
There are only 8 pear halves, but you should have enough leftover slices to reassemble for the last tartlet.