Frangipane Pear Tart

How to make the traditional French frangipane pear tart with this quick and easy recipe to make at home. Made with a delicious crunchy homemade shortcrust pastry, filled with almond cream filling and poached pears.

this recipe

Almond pear tart

Called Bourdaloue or bourdaloue tart, this pear frangipane tart is a traditional French recipe created in a Parisian bakery located on Bourdaloue street, hence its name.

Of all the classic fruit tarts desserts most appreciated in French pastry, this pears frangipane tart is one of the favorite recipes in France along with the famous apple tart.

Made with a frangipane tart base with the delicious flavor of an almond cream filling on a crunchy, buttery sweet tart crust - French Pâte Sablée, to which we add canned pears or fresh pear slices that add a sweet, flavorful taste.

This recipe of pear and almond tart is a delicious dessert that we like to make for all occasions, a family snack, to end a family dessert or for a special occasion like Mother's Day.

>> Voir toutes les recettes de tartes du blog

Which pears to choose

Use preferably poached pears because they are more melting and flavorful after baking than fresh pears. You can poach them yourself following my instructions below or use canned pears.

How to poach pears at home?

To make homemade poached pears, simply peel the pear skins and cut them in half. Then prepare sugar syrup in a large saucepan or frying pan by mixing 1 liter of water with 1 ¼ cups (250 g) of granulated sugar and bringing them to a boil.

Then add the pear halves to the sugar syrup and cook over low heat for 15 minutes until their flesh is soft when you insert a knife.

Drain then the pears and cut them into thin slices to use directly in fruit tart recipes.

Composition of this pear tart

Here are the ingredients and possible substitutions to make this delicious pear and almond tart at home, scroll down the page to see the quantities in the recipe card

Tart shell

We generally use a sweet tart dough (French pâte sablée) made with the same ingredients found in regular pie dough, but with more butter and ground almonds to give it a crumbly and melting texture.

This tart dough can easily be substituted with other pie crusts such as shortcrust pastry, regular sweet shortcrust pastry, or by simply using cookie crumbs such as biscoff or graham crackers.

No blind baking is needed for this pie crust, all the preparations are joined together and the tart is baked directly.

Almond filling

• Butter: Use unsalted butter, preferably with the texture of softened butter.
• Sugar: White granulated sugar that can be replaced with flavored sugar such as brown sugar, cane sugar or even powdered sugar.
• Eggs: eggs at room temperature for a homogeneous mixture, place them in hot water for a few minutes if you don't have time to take out your eggs from the fridge in advance.
• Almond flour: Use finely ground almonds, blanched or whole almond meal that you can replace with ground hazelnuts.
• Flavor: to flavor your filling can simply add vanilla extract, bitter almond extract, rum etc.

Option

• Chocolate: Add unsweetened cocoa powder to flavor the almond cream or chocolate chips to make a chocolate pear tart version.
• Nuts: Add crunch with a few hazelnuts or crushed almonds
• Fruits: Use preferably poached pear like canned pear halves that you can replace with fresh bosc pears or other fruits such as apricots, apples, raspberries, plums and more.

⚠️ You will find the quantities and complete instructions in the recipe card at the end of the page.

How to make Pear Almond Tart

Tarte crust

1. Place the dry ingredients, flour, powdered sugar, ground almonds and salt in a large bowl and mix with a tablespoon.
2. Then add the cold butter cut into pieces and with your fingertips mix until you get a sandy texture.
3. Make a hollow and add the egg, then mix with your hands to moisten all the ingredients and gather the dough until it forms a homogeneous ball without kneading it too much.
4. Cover on contact with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least 20 minutes.

Tip: You can also immediately roll out the dough with a rolling pin to a thickness of 3 mm between two sheets of parchment paper and place it in the freezer for 10 minutes.

Almond cream

1. Place softened butter with sugar in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer on medium speed for 2-3 minutes until creamy and smooth.
2. Add the eggs and flavoring ( almond flavor or vanilla extract) and beat again to incorporate.
3. Finish with the ground almonds and mix again with an electric mixer until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
4. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator until the tart is ready to be assembled.

Tip: Frangipane filling can be made 1 day in advance and kept in the fridge to save time in preparation.

Assembling

1. Take the sweet shortcrust pastry out of the fridge and roll it out with a rolling pin on a floured work surface (or between 2 sheets of parchment paper to prevent it from sticking too much).
2. Line a tart pan or a pastry ring with the tart dough and cut the edges.
3. Fill the crust with the almond mixture and smooth it with an angled spatula if necessary.
4. Place thin slices of pears on top of the almond filling.
5. Then sprinkle flaked almonds over the entire pear tart.

Tip: Place the prepared pear tart in the freezer for 30 minutes before baking so that the crust holds its shape and does not collapse during baking.

Baking

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F / 180°C and bake the pear tart for about 45 minutes until it is golden brown around the edges.
2. Allow the pear almond tart to cool completely before carefully removing it from the pan and placing on a large plate or on a wire rack.
3. Place the tart in the refrigerator for 1 hour before serving it with whipped cream;

Tip: Brush on lightly heated apricot jam with a pastry brush to add a shiny crust or a sugar syrup following the notes in the recipe card.

Conservation

In the fridge: This classic pear frangipane tart can only be kept in the fridge for about 3-4 days in a storage box or under plastic wrap.

In the freezer: You can also prepare it in advance and store it in the freezer wrapped in plastic wrap or in a storage box for up to 3 months.

Let it thaw gently in the refrigerator for 24 hours.

More almond tarts

• Rhubarb and almond tart
• Strawberry tart with pastry cream
• Salted caramel chocolate tart

Pear recipes

• Pear galette
• Chocolate pear cake

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