This recipe has been adapted from Philippe Conticini (our pastry guru, apart from Pierre Hermé). The tart’s allure comes from a harmonious blend of light acidic and sweet fruit flavors, married with a rich, frangipane atop a crisp and flaky pastry. It is completed with a hint of citrus for brightness and a lavish touch of chocolate.
We try to use seasonal ingredients as much as we can to enjoy them at their peak.Now it is a great moment to use pears – sweet, juicy and full of flavour. We bought ours in 2 North Parade in Oxford.
Pear and chocolate tart
Course: Dessert, FikaCuisine: FrenchDifficulty: Easy4
servings15
minutes35
minutesIngredients
- Tart
150g puff pastry (⌀16cm)
1 lemon (to prevent the pears from darkening)
2 ripe pears
- Frangipane
62g butter in room temperature
45g icing sugar
1g sea salt
50g ground almonds
1 medium egg
0.5 tsp flour
1 tbsp cornstarch
- To finish
1 tsp caster sugar and 5g barely melted butter (to put on the pears)
1 tbsp caster sugar and 5g melted butter (to spread under the pastry)
Lime and lemon zest
+/- 60g dark chocolate 70%
Directions
- Frangipane
- In a medium size bowl, mix the softened butter with the icing sugar and sea salt.
- Incorporate the ground almonds using a balloon whisk first and then the egg.
- Finally, sieve the flour and the cornstarch and whisk it in until the mixture is homogeneous.
- Cover the bowl with cling film and set aside.
- Tart
- Preheat the oven to 170C (no fan).
- Peel the pears and cut them into quarters, then core.
- Each quarter must be cut again in 4 pieces, but make sure you cut them at an angle, so that they overlap evenly once you assemble the tart.
- Transfer them into a bowl, pour the lemon juice over to slow the oxidation and cover them.
- Line up a tray with a baking parchment.
- Brush it with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar.
- This way, the bottom of your tart will crisp up while baking.
- Unroll the puff pastry sheet and cut a circle ⌀16cm.
- Place the pastry on the baking tray and poke it with a fork or knife several times.
- Spread the frangipane in the middle of the pastry, up to 2.5cm from the edge of the tart.
- Arrange the pears in a rosette in a way that the tip of the pears is aligned with the edge of the pastry. Once the first rosette is done, arrange the remaining pieces in the reverse direction on the centre of the tart.
- Brush the pears very carefully with soft butter and sprinkle with caster sugar.
- Place in the oven and bake for 30min or until the pears begin to brown and the pastry looks nicely coloured.
- Then, take it out of the oven, and if you wish, give it an extra touch by burning the edges of the pears with a blow torch.
- It highlights the pears and gives the dish volume.
- To finish
- Melt the dark chocolate and gently drizzle over the tart with a spoon.
- At last, grate a bit of lime and lemon zest on the top and sprinkle some sea salt.
- Serve and enjoy this indulgent, seasonal treat!
Notes
- We used the Comice variety – the oval shape allows you to cut it into even slices. You can also get the Conference pears, but make sure you cut the tips off. Otherwise, the slices will be too long to fit on the tart.
- In this recipe, Conticini uses a higher ratio of cornstarch to flour what makes the frangipane a bit lighter.
- Our ingredients listed for frangipane yield 3 times more than you need. It’s the minimum quantity possible when using one whole egg.