Burnt Butter Frangipane, Whiskey, Almond and Pear Tart with Whiskey Honey Roasted Pears
There is everything in this tart, and I love each and every single part of it. From the burnt butter that gives the frangipane a deep and rich flavour to the side dish of the whiskey honey roasted pears, that are also pureed and add a layer to the centre of the tart.
I love it all.
The only problem with the tart is that it’s not a quick make, the pastry needs to rest in the fridge and the burnt butter needs to set up, so if you take my tip, I think ahead and make the pastry and burnt butter the day before ready for assembly and bake the following day.
I lied when i said there was only one problem. The other is that I never know what to serve the art with.
A home made vanilla ice cream is a favourite to go along with this tart, complimenting it perfectly. Of course, for those who don’t like vanilla ice cream, there’s always the choice of a great vanilla custard or some Chantilly cream, but If thats the only problem I have with this tart, I can love with that.
Go on, give it a go and enjoy your sweet life!
Serve with the pears on the side.
What You Need
Pastry
300g Plain Flour
180g Butter - Cold
125g Light Brown Sugar
3 Large Egg Yolks
1 Egg White for brushing the pastry
1 1/2 tbsp Cold Water
30g Flaked Almonds
Let the pastry come together before bringing together with hands.
Honey Roasted Pears
350g Runny Honey
120g Light Brown Sugar
80ml Whiskey
6 Ripe Pears - See Tip Box
1tsp Vanilla Extract
Lay the prepared pears cut side up in the tray.
Burnt Butter Frangipane
180g Butter - Cold and cut into pieces
180g Ground Almonds
125g Light Brown Sugar
70g Plain Flour plus more for tin preparation
60g Runny Honey
3 Large Eggs
3 tbsp Whiskey
Beat the frangipane ingredients together but don’t over mix.
For Serving
Double Cream, Chantilly Cream, Vanilla Ice Cream or Creme Fraiche.
Serve any way you want to.
How It’s Done
Pastry
Put the flour and sugar into a food processor and give it a whizz to mix it up.
Make sure the butter is cut into small pieces and while the food processor is on, add the butter one piece at a time.
Whizz the food processor until the flour and butter mixture looks like breadcrumbs.
Add the three egg yolks and 1 1/2 tbsp of cold water and let the food processor run until the contents comes together.
Turn the machine off, and turn out the dough onto a clean work surface.
Use hands to quickly bring the dough together into a ball - Don’t over work the dough - See Tip Box
Once the dough is together, divide the dough into two pieces, one 2/3rds and the other 1/3rd.
Wrap the pieces of dough in separate pieces of cling film and place in the fridge to rest for around 2 hours.
While the pastry is resting prepare the tin, the burnt butter frangipane and the pears
Lay the pastry gently in the prepared tin.
Prepare the Tin
Find a loose bottomed tart tin around 20cm X 30cm or the equivalent in a square tin.
Rub margarine or butter all over the inside of the tin making sure to get into all the corners and ridges.
Put a little flour into the margarine covered tin and roll it around the tin until it’s all coated in the flour.
Tap out any excess flour.
Place the tin onto a sheet of non-stick baking parchment, and draw around the bottom of the tin.
Cut out a circle of parchment, and place it into the bottom of the floured tin.
Set the tin aside until needed.
For the top, cut the small piece of pastry into rough diamonds.
Honey Roasted Pears
Heat the oven to 180c
Put the honey, sugar, whiskey and the vanilla into a small saucepan and over a low heat, heat it until everything is dissolved - stirring all the time so the mixture doesn’t catch in the bottom of the pan.
Peel the pears and cut in half lengthways, and using a small spoon or melon baller, scoop out the centre of the hard centre of the pear.
Place the pears, cut side up, on a shallow roasting tin, so the pears fit snuggly together in a single layer.
Pour the honey mixture over the pears and put the tin into the oven to bake for 30-40 minutes until the pears are tender and the syrup becomes sticky.
Once ready, remove the tin from the oven and let them cool in the tin, until they’re cool enough to handle.
Once cool enough to handle, put 4 of the pear halves and 1 tbsp of the syrup into a clean food processor and whizz until they turn into a pear puree.
Put the pear puree into a bowl and let it sit in the fridge until needed.
Scrape the rest of the syrup into a separate bowl, and place it in the fridge until needed.
Once the pears have finished cooking, reduce the oven to 170c.
The pears should be soft and the syrup sticky when they come out of the oven.
Burnt Butter Frangipane
Place the pieces of butter into a small saucepan.
Heat the butter on a low to medium heat until it melts.
Once melted, keep heating the butter and keep swirling it in the pan. Keep the temperature low to medium - and be patient.
Watch it very carefully, the melted butter will go from just melted to burnt in seconds.
When the bubbles start to slow down, as the melted butter is being swirled, it will start to go brown.
Take the butter off the heat when it goes a nut colour.
As soon as this happens, remove the butter into a bowl and put the bowl in the fridge until it sets.
Once the butter is set, scrape the burnt butter into the bowl of an electric mixer, add the sugar and the honey and beat using a beat paddle until it is light and fluffy - be patient.
Once light and fluffy, beat in the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the bowl as you go.
Add the ground almonds, flour, whiskey and beat it until everything is just combined, don’t over beat - See Tip Box
Place an oven tray in the oven so that it gets hot, leave it there until needed.
Take the larger piece of pastry from the fridge, roll it out to around 3mm thickness, and line a tart tin, making sure to gently press the pastry into the corners and ridges.
Leave a small over hang of pastry around the edges. Place the lined tin in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
Roll out the smaller piece of pastry to 3mm and lie it onto the lined baking tray.
Remove the tart tin from the fridge and using a sharp knife, trim away any excess pastry, so the edges are tidy.
Cut the pastry that is on the baking tray into rough diamond shapes, and set it aside until needed.
Put half the frangipane in the pastry lined tart tin and spread it around so that it’s as flat as it can be.
Next comes the pear puree. Again, level the puree, right across the frangipane layer.
Frangipane layer, pear puree ;ayer ending with frangipane layer
Top the puree with the remaining frangipane and use a spatular to make it into an even smooth payer.
Randomly place the pastry diamonds over the top of the frangipane, and brush each of he diamonds with the egg white.
Lay the pierces of pastry on top of the frangipane.
Scatter the flaked almonds all over the top of the tart.
Put the tart onto the hot tray that was in the oven, and then return the tray back to the oven to bake for around 50- 60 minutes - See Tip Box
Sprinkle the flaked almonds over the top before the oven.
The tart is cooked when the top is a rich golden brown colour and when the middle is pressed gently with a finger, the frangipane bounces back.
Let the tart sit in the tin to cool competely before trying to remove it from thee tin.
To remove the tart, use a thin knife or off set spatular to run it around the edge of the pastry to loosen the pastry away from the tin.
Push out the bottom of the loose bottomed tin, and remove the tins bottom and the piece of parchment.
Serve at room temperature
Sere at room temperature
Tip box
Pears - Uas the pears you love for this tart. As long as the pears are ripe, so not hard, they will work. I always think that using the ingredients I love will automatically make the end product better, and i’m usually right
Making Pastry - Making the pastry is easy, it just takes time to set up so that it is easier to work with. But even if the pastry does break when lining the tin, it’s not the end of the world. Its really easy to patch up but pushing it together.
Frangipane - Love frangipane, but as with lots of other things in baking, over handling, or in this case, over beating, will make the frangipane tough to eat. So be very careful, and only beat until everything is just brought together.
Working with Pastry - The only thing to remember is that over working the pastry will make the end result tough on the tongue.
Baking the Tart - Having a soggy bottom is a no no with any tart, and my tip to stray to solve this issue of a wet underneath, is to heat an oven tray to a high temperature and when that tart is ready for the oven, put the prepared tart straight onto the hot tray. This way the bottom of the tart starts to c cook straight away instead of coming up to cooking temperature slowly.
Cooking - All ovens are different to adjust the cooking time of everything accordingly.
Tart with a side of pears
