About Shalini Digvijay: Baking comes naturally to this army wife, who has been putting out skillfully braided Challahs and gorgeous Gateaux for over 25 years. She blogs from an award winning blog called Baketitude and is an advocate of using locally sourced ingredients to make beautiful bakes. She is a passionate bread baker, with Sourdough and Babkas being her forte. She recently trained from the School for European pastry and now caters her bakes in Delhi NCR.
Ingredients:
TART DOUGH:
• 240 grams maida
• 70 grams caster sugar
• 155 gram cold unsalted butter, cubed
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
POACHED PEARS:
• 6 cups water
• 400 grams caster sugar
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 1 star anise pod
• 1 tablespoon vanilla essence
• 3 pears not too ripe
FRANGIPANE
• 115 grams caster sugar
• 115 grams almond flour
• 3 eggs, room temperature
• 15 gram flour
• 115 gram butter at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon dark rum
Recipe:
Prepare the Tart Dough: Lightly grease a 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom and set aside. In a bowl add flour, sugar, salt and mix. Add the cold cubed butter and mix with fork until the butter is well distributed in the flour without lumps. Add the egg yolk and vanilla extract and mix. Rest the dough and roll out to 3 mm thick.
Poach the Pears: Mix cold water and granulated sugar in a medium pot. Add cinnamon sticks, star anise pod, and vanilla. Place the peeled and cored pears and poach for 12 minutes, allow to cool in a pan then drain and slice.
Make the Frangipane Filling: Mix butter and sugar in a bowl with a hand blender and heat over medium flame until creamy. At a low flame, add almond flour and egg until the ingredients are mixed evenly. Add vanilla and rum (if using) and mix it all.
Assemble the Tart: Place the tart pan on a baking sheet. Fill the pre-baked tart shell with the frangipane filling and spread evenly with spatula. Cut the poached pears in half, remove the stem and any remaining core. Slice the pear halves crosswise into thin slices. Using a spatula, carefully lift each sliced pear half and place on the frangipane, with the narrow end of the pear facing the center of the tart, fanning the slices apart slightly as you work. Repeat with the remaining pear halves, spacing them evenly around the tart.
Bake at 190 C for 40 to 55 minutes or until the frangipane has risen substantially around the pears and is deep golden brown in color.
Note: *If your oven runs hot, you may wish to reduce the temperature by 10 degrees. If the edges of the tart are gaining color too quickly, you can lightly cover them with a ring of foil - be sure to cook the filling completely. Transfer the tart to a rack and let it cool until lukewarm or room temperature before removing the sides of the tart pan.
