Pear and Almond Tart

Cook Time 1 hour

Servings 6-8

Ingredients

4 medium-sized pears, peeled and cored
1L of water
500g sugar
½ stick cinnamon
1 vanilla pod
Juice of a lemon

Pastry
200g plain flour
100g butter, chopped in cubes
1 egg
20g sugar
a pinch a salt
1 tbsp water

Almond mixture
100g sugar
90g butter, softened to a paste consistency
100g almond meal
2 eggs
1 tbsp of rum (optional)

Method

Preheat the oven at 180°C.

Place the water, sugar, lemon juice, vanilla pod and cinnamon in a saucepan and bring slowly to the boil. Place the pears in the pan and reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes. Let the pears cool a little in their syrup, then remove from the pan and drain them. Set aside.

Make the pastry by placing the flour, salt, sugar and butter into a mixer and pulse until crumbly, then add the egg and a little water to bind the dough. Remove from mixer and knead gently with the tips of your fingers to form a ball. Flatten the ball with the hand and let it rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.

In a mixer, cream the butter with the sugar, add one egg at a time until mixture is smooth. Add the rum then incorporate the almond meal. Mix gently.

Roll out the pastry and line a greased tart pan. Prick the bottom of the pastry with a fork. Fill in the pastry shell with the almond cream. Cut the pears in quarters and arrange the fruit nicely on top of the almond cream.

Bake for 40 minutes. If the tart is nice and golden before the time elapses, cover the tart loosely with an aluminium foil and keep baking as the bottom of the pastry must be well cooked.