Pear and Almond Tart

This was on my baking list for SO long because it is my favorite pie of all time. I love the taste of almond in anything and it goes very well with pear here. we usually get this pie from "Première Moisson" which I love. I looked for a good ( and by that I mean easy) and I found a few which I will try one by one. 

Here is the first one and the easiest one :

Ingredient for the pastry:

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 icing sugar

1/2 cup butter

2 egg yolks

2 tablespoon chilled water

Ingredients for the tart:

3 firm pears

1 tablespoon of lemon juice

1 tablespoon water or rum

4 tablespoon of orange preserve

Ingredient for the almond filling:

3/4 almonds ( I use the original almonds with their skin on)

1/4 cup caster sugar

5 tablespoon butter

1 egg

1 egg white

1/2 teaspoon of almond essence or rose water

First step like always heat up the oven to 350C.

In a bowl mix the flour, salt and sugar together. cut the butter into small cubes and mix the with dry ingredients. the mixture will resembles breadcrumbs.

then mix the egg yolks and water and mix to make a dough. put it in the fridge for about 30 minutes to chill.

When it's time, take out the dough and roll it on the surface with a roller. then spread the layer of pastry on the pie pan and put it back to fridge for  30 more minutes.

Meanwhile, let's make the filling. put the almonds and sugar in the food processor and plus them till they are finely ground but not like powder. add the butter and process until creamy. them mix the egg, egg white and almond essence.

Thinly peel and slice the pears as shown here and sprinkle lemon juice on them. put them cut side down and keep the slices together.

Pour the almond filling into the pastry case. slide a wide knife under the pear half and press them with your fingers to fan out the slices.then transfer them to the tart on top of the filling.

Place the tart into the oven and bake for 50-60 minutes or till the filling is set and lightly browned. 

While tart is getting ready in the oven, heat the rum or water and preserve in a small pan, then brush over the hot tart to glaze ( this step could be ignored, I found it unnecessary !). when tart cooled down, take a slice and enjoy !

If you are a fan of tart, definitely try this one you won't be disappointed, it is easy, as well as delicious :) I think I did well for the my first time  ;)

Have a great Wednesday everyone

Mania