Pear frangipane tart

This pear frangipane tart is a delicious combination of tender pears nestled in a soft nutty filling, encased in crisp pastry. It's elegant enough for entertaining, though you might find it hard to share.

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Many years ago now, I had a slight obsession with some mini pear tartlets that a store near my office used to sell. I might possibly have snuck one into my lunch plans on days when I particularly needed a treat (and believe me, working in HR in Financial Services during the crash, I had a few).

While I love the mini size, this traditional French tart is actually more typically made in a larger size. Which has some advantages, in that it's easy to adjust serving size, and arguably looks more impressive too.

Plus, in all honesty is not the quickest to make so it's worth having more to show for it. Though it's not difficult, and is definitely worth the effort.

Origins of pear frangipane tart, tarte Bourdaloue

As mentioned above, this is a traditional French tart and the French name, tarte Bourdaloue, is actually named after a street in Paris, Rue Bourdaloue. It was created by a pastry chef based on that street in the mid 19th century, though you'll find a few different names on who the creator was. So it may be one that is now lost to history.

It seems likely that the earliest versions of the tart used other fruits and you do indeed still find other tarts using the same idea but with apricots on top, for example, or other fruits. These days the pear version is definitely one of the more popular ones. And once you give it a try, you'll understand why.

This tart has three components:

• a sweet pastry base
• an almond cream filling
• tender pears on top.

Each is prepared separately before you then put them all together and bake.

The pastry base

The pastry is traditionally a classic sweet tart dough, pate sucree, which is a rich, buttery and sweetened pastry used in many French sweet tarts. It can be a little sticky to work with, but the end result has such a wonderful flavor and crisp, but not hard, texture.

It's easy enough to make, but you do want to make sure you chill it before you bake or it will shrink. It would then be too low around the edges to hold the filling. You can chill it longer, though, which allows you to prepare the base ahead.

Then when ready, you part-bake the base which helps ensure it's both fully cooked and helps avoid it getting soggy. You first blind bake it (filled with parchment paper and baking beans) so the pastry doesn't puff up, then give it a couple more minutes to dry.

I have given instructions to make your own sweet pastry case below, but you could also use a ready prepared pie crust if you prefer to speed things up a little. The texture will likely be a little different, but arguably the fillings are the star here.

The almond filling

The almond cream filling is often called frangipane, though technically it is not quite the same. Frangipane should really be a mix of almond cream and pastry cream (crème pâtissière). However, in this tart, and others, the names are often used interchangeably for the almond cream.

The almond cream mixture is made up of almonds (ground, so you can use almond flour), butter, sugar and eggs. You typically add rum and can also add some vanilla and almond extract to enhance the flavor. Here I skipped the rum but used the other two. All you do is cream the butter and sugar until light and glossy, then mix in the rest.

The filling can also be made ahead of time then added into the part-baked tart crust. Be sure to store it in the fridge or the mixture can go bad and/or separate.

The pears

Last but definitely not least is the pears! Traditionally, you poach the pears first which while it does take slightly longer, does ensure the pears and definitely tender. You are also less likely to get juices coming out during baking.

However, if you have nicely ripe fresh pears you could skip poaching and simple peel, core and slice. You can also use canned pears which will be soft and sweet (and also less likely to ooze juice than fresh).

If using fresh either as they are or poached, I'd opt for a variety that will keep it's form, so William, D'Anjou, Bosc or Comice would be a good choice. Bartlett can tend to become too soft so may not be the best choice.

After peeling and removing the core, cut the pears into slices so that you can fan them out a little as you lay on top. Exactly how you arrange them is up to you and depends a little on the pears, too. Here mine were larger so I used three halves plus a few pear slices in the middle. If smaller, you'd more typically place the stem ends of all the halves in the middle and they then go out from there. It will be tasty no matter what.

This pear frangipane tart is elegant and packed with flavor. It's great for serving a group and will keep a couple days, given half the chance (which may not happen). It has an autumnal feel, but it's a delicious dessert worth enjoying any time.

Looking for more fall-flavored desserts? Try these!

• Pear clafoutis
• Pumpkin souffle
• Chocolate pumpkin pastry twists
• French pear cake
• Plus get more dessert recipes in the archives.

See some of my favorite cooking tools and ingredients in the Caroline's Cooking Amazon store. 

This post was first shared in November 2017 and has been updated with a few recipe tweaks, new photos and additional information and tips.

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