Ingredients
Shortcrust pastry
- 125 g Unsalted Butter, soft
- 75 g Icing Sugar, sifted
- 1 Egg, medium to large, at room temperature
- 50 g Almond Meal
- 200 g Plain / All-Purpose Flour
- 1 pinch Fine Table Salt
Pear & Almond Cream Filling
- 6 half pears tinned
- 100 g unsalted butter softened
- 75 g sugar
- 2 eggs
- 3 drops almond extract
- 100 g almond meal (almond flour)
- 2 tablespoon good quality dark rum
- 20 g slivered almonds
Glaze
- 100 g apricot jam slightly warmed
Directions
Sweet Pastry:
- Using a stand mixer with a paddle beater (otherwise mix by hand but use cold butter), mix the butter, sugar and salt until pale and creamy. Gradually add the egg, flour and ground almonds until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl. Wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for an hour.
- Leave to rest at room temperature for 10 minutes then roll out the pastry to about 3-4mm on a lightly floured surface. Wrap the pastry around the rolling pin to transfer to a loose-bottomed tart tin (27-28cm/11" diameter).
- Using your fingers, press the pastry right into the sides of the tin. Roll the rolling pin over the top to even off the pastry, prick with a fork then chill for 30 minutes.
Pear and Almond Filling:
- Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan.
- Drain the pear halves from the syrup on kitchen paper. When dry, cut them in slices horizontally (optional).
- Cream together the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add the eggs, almond extract, ground almonds and rum.
- Spread over this mixture evenly over the tart base using a palette knife (or pipe it out in a spiral). For a 28cm tin, this will look quite thin but it will puff up in the oven and keep your tart golden and crispy.
- Using a (palette) knife, carefully transfer the pears evenly over the top and sprinkle with the slivered almonds.
- Bake in the oven for 30-35 or until golden. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes. Remove from the tin and brush over with the apricot jam.