Tarte aux Poires

This delicious mix of almond and pear work as an impressive desert that requires a small number of standard ingredients to create a delicious pudding!

Makes 1 medium sized tart

Ingredients:

For the shortcrust pastry:

60g unsalted butter, softened

40g icing sugar

125g plain flour

1 tsp salt

1 egg yolk

2 tbsp of water depending how dry the mixture is.

For the filling:

4 pear halves (in syrup)

50g ground almonds

50g icing sugar

50g unsalted butter

1 whole egg

2 tbsp whipping cream - more to enrich

1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

To start, preheat the oven to 180 degrees C, and then grease an 18cm tin and line with baking paper. To make the pastry, mix the flour, sugar and salt in a bowl and then add in the butter and the egg yolk and mix until it resembles breadcrumbs. Then add the water until the dough comes together, and chill for 30 minutes.

To make the filling, combine all of the ingredients, accept the pears, in a bowl and whisk them together until it is a smooth mix, if there are lumps of butter - don't worry, they will melt in the oven. Take the pastry out of the fridge and then roll out between two sheets of clingfilm to prevent it from sticking to the surface. Once you have rolled that pastry to 0.5 cm thick, remove one of the sheets of clingfilm and then place it on the tin and then press it into the sides. Then add the almond mixture to the pastry lined tin and then place the four pear halves on top. Cook the tart for 40-45 minutes in a preheated oven until it is firm and golden brown, leave to cool and then serve!