Pear frangipane tartlets

I may have said this before but I am not a lover of sweet desserts. This is probably a good thing in a pastry chef – I wholeheartedly agree with the tutor who warned us, during a chocolate demonstration, to “lick and be sick”. Surrounded by chocolate, cake mix, icing, cookie dough and all things sugary most days, I would most certainly be the size of a house and have serious blood-sugar issues by now. The fact that I am addicted to cheese is another issue altogether.

I made these little tartlets for a client whose husband is a big fan of pears. Because it was a buffet-style function I served nibbles instead of a starter, and wanted a nibble-style dessert that would be easy to eat standing up.

They turned out so well – the pastry was crisp with a hint of cinnamon coming through, the pear was tender and juicy and the frangipane filling added a not-too-sweet hit of nutty almond. It may have been that my energy levels were low at the end of the day, but to me they were exactly what a pudding should be - not too filling after a big meal, and not too sweet.

The recipe was simply adapted from a couple of my tried-and-trusted, committed-to-memory basics – for the rich shortcrust pastry, to which I added a dash of ground cinnamon; and the frangipane. I recommend you try this combination, but also try a few variations:  use mixed spice or orange zest to flavour the pastry, use apples or plum or rum-soaked prunes instead of the pears – the options are pretty much endless. For a family lunch or dinner party you could make one big one instead; for afternoon tea or as a sweet canapé the smaller ones work very well.

So, start with the rich shortcrust. I use my Magimix to bring these ingredients together in a matter of seconds. You will need (for one 23cm flan case or to make 24 small ones):
INGREDIENTS
For the pastry:

340g plain flour
2tbsp caster sugar
200g unsalted butter (cold, from the fridge, cut into small cubes)
A generous pinch of salt
.5tsp ground cinnamon or mixed spice or the zest of one orange
1 whole egg
1-2tbsp cold water
For the filling:

200 unsalted butter, softened

200g caster sugar

2 eggs

2 egg yolks

liqueur of choice, optional (Calvados /Cointreau / Armagnac / cherry brandy / Amaretto)

200g ground almonds

METHOD
Put the flour, sugar, salt and butter in a blender and blitz until combined to resemble coarse sand. By hand you can use your fingertips to gently rub the butter into the flour.
With the machine running, break the egg into the funnel, add 1tbsp of water and then drip feed more water until the pastry comes together – you may not need all of it and you don’t want it too wet, so don’t rush this step.
Turn the pastry out onto a floured surface and bring it together with your fingers. Use a rolling pin to tap the surface gently until it flattens, then start to roll it out, giving it a quarter turn every so often until you have a uniform thickness of a £1 coin (20mm).
Carefully line the flan case or cut out circles to line a muffin tin. Chill the pastry for 20 minutes (heat the oven to 200C at this stage), then blind bake* and cool. Turn the oven down to 180C for the next stage.

Now prepare the fruit and make the filling.

Using a hand beater or machine with a whisk attachment, beat the soft butter and sugar together until fluffy and pale. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition, followed by the yolks. Add the alcohol if using, and fold in the ground almonds.
Spoon the frangipane  into the tart case and arrange the fruit on top, gently pressing it down into the mixture. Bake on the middle shelf of the oven – the large tart will take 40-50 minutes for the frangipane to set and rise a little. The tartlets will take 15-20 minutes.

Serve warm or at room temperature, with a dusting of icing sugar and, if feeling very indulgent, lightly whipped cream laced with liqueur, icing sugar and vanilla essence.

*Blind baking tips
Cut out a baking parchment circle slightly larger than the tin and scrunch it up into a tiny ball (this helps it mould to the shape of the container). Line the case with the flattened-out paper and fill with uncooked rice/dried beans, or baking beans if you have them.  This can be fiddly in the case of the tartlets but I managed it, and have kept paper circles for next time. The large tart case will take around 15 minutes in the oven to set the sides (the baking beans hold the pastry up and stop it from melting down into the base), then remove the beans and paper and return to the oven for another 8-10 minutes to cook the base so it is sandy in colour and texture. The little tart cases take around 10 minutes and then a further 4-5 mins.