Pear And Almond Cream Tart Food

PEAR AND ALMOND TART

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
• In a mixing bowl cream butter with sugar until fluffy. With mixer on low, beat in egg. Scrape down sides of the bowl. Mix in brandy and vanilla. Add almond and all-purpose flours. Mix until creamy. Cover and refrigerate. Place almond filling into tart shell, spread level. Cut poached pear halves crosswise into 1/4-inch slices. Reshape pear halves and arrange 8 halves around the top of each tart, "spoke" fashion. Press pears lightly to fan out. Bake for 40 minutes or until top is well browned and filling is springy to the touch. Cool and serve at room temperature.
• Note: To poach pears, peel, core and halve pears, place in a pot with 1 3/4 cups white wine, 3/4 cup water, 4 ounces of sugar, 1 cinnamon stick, vanilla bean split, and 4 black pepper corns. Bring to a boil and lower heat to a simmer, cook for 30 minutes or until pears are tender when pricked. Cool in liquid.
• In a mixing bowl combine flour, sugar and salt, cut in butter until it resembles small pebbles. With a mixer running add vanilla and slowly drizzle in water until dough comes together in a sticky mass. Roll into a ball, wrap and chill at least 30 minutes and up to 24 hours before rolling. Roll shell to fit into a 9-inch tart pan. Set aside.;

PEAR AND ALMOND TART

Steps:

• Melt the butter with the sugar in a large frying pan and cook until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture has become a golden-brown caramel.
• Add the pear halves and cook, turning once, until caramelised all over. Remove from the heat and set aside.
• For the pastry, place the plain flour, butter and sugar into a food processor and pulse together until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
• Add the egg and pulse until the mixture just comes together as a dough. Add a little milk if required.
• Remove the dough from the food processor and roll to form a ball. Wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for 40 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
• Remove the dough from the fridge and unwrap. Roll the pastry out on a clean, floured work surface to line a 20cm/8in tart tin. Transfer to the oven to bake for ten minutes, or until golden-brown.
• For the filling, mix the butter and sugar together in a bowl until light and fluffy.
• Add one egg at a time to the butter mixture and mix well, before adding the next (this can be done in a food mixer) until all the eggs are mixed into the butter and sugar.
• Add the lemon zest, plain flour and ground almonds and mix well to combine.
• Spoon the filling into the baked pastry tin and press the caramelised pear halves into the filling, so that they are half-submerged.
• Transfer to the oven and bake for 30 minutes, or until the filling is cooked through.
• For the chocolate sauce, place the butter, sugar, chocolate, cocoa powder, vanilla extract and water into a clean pan over a medium heat. Bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring regularly, until the sauce is thick and glossy.
• To serve, cut a piece of tart and place on a serving plate, top with the chocolate sauce and drizzle over the double cream.

PEAR AND CUSTARD TART

Steps:

• Roll pie crust disk out on lightly-floured work surface to 1/8 inch thick round.
• Roll dough up on rolling pin and transfer to 9 inch in diameter tart pan with removable bottom.
• Gently press into place.
• Trim and finish edges.
• Refrigerate 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 375F.
• Line pastry with foil and fill with pie weights or dry beans.
• Bake 15 minutes.
• Remove foil and weights and continue baking 10 more minutes.
• Cool.
• Arrange pears in pastry in concentric circles, overlapping slightly.
• Dot with butter; sprinkle with brown sugar; bake until pears are tender, about 20 minutes.
• Whisk light cream, egg, egg yolk, ¼ cup sugar and vanilla and almond extracts to blend.
• Pour over pears.
• Sprinkle lightly with ground nutmeg and cinnamon.
• Continue baking until custard is set, about 30 minutes.
• Serve warm or at room temperature.

ALMOND-PEAR CREAM CHEESE TORTE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 425°F.
• Beat butter and 1/3 cup sugar in small bowl with mixer until light and fluffy. Add flour; mix well. Press onto bottom and 1 inch up side of 9-inch springform pan.
• Beat cream cheese and 1/3 cup of the remaining sugar in same bowl with mixer until blended. Add egg and vanilla; mix well. Spread onto bottom of crust. Mix remaining sugar and cinnamon until blended. Add to pears in large bowl; toss to coat. Arrange over cream cheese layer; top with nuts. Bake 10 min.
• Reduce temperature to 375°F; bake torte 25 min. or until center is set. Cool completely. Run knife around rim of pan to loosen torte. Remove rim. Refrigerate torte 3 hours.

CRUSTLESS PEAR AND ALMOND TART

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Butter a 9 inch baking dish or tart pan.
• In a food processor, combine the almonds and 1/2 sugar and process until finely ground.
• Be careful not to process too long or it will turn into almond butter!
• Transfer the ground almonds to a medium bowl and stir in the flour and salt until blended.
• In another medium bowl, whisk the eggs until frothy.
• Whisk in the milk and melted butter until well blended.
• Add the egg mixture to the almonds and stir to blend well.
• Pour the batter into the prepared dish and spread to form an even layer.
• Peel, quarter and core the pears.
• cut each pear quarter into crossways slices, keeping the slices assembled as you go.
• Slide one of the sliced pear quarters onto a metal spatula or spreader and set it on top of the batter.
• Repeat with the remaining sliced pear quarters forming the spokes of a wheel.
• Press the surface of the fanned pears down into the batter so that only the surface of the pears is showing.
• Sprinkle the remaining sugar evenly over the pears and scatter the cut up butter bits over the top.
• Bake the tart in the upper third of the oven until the batter is puffed and golden brown, 40-45 minutes.
• Let the tart cool on a rack.
• You could substitute mangoes, peaches, or apples for the pears, and have the same delicious results.

SCANDINAVIAN PEAR TART

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Coat a 9-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom with cooking spray.
• Beat sugar and butter together in a small bowl until crumbly. Beat in flour and almonds. Press over the bottom and up the sides of the prepared tart pan.
• Beat cream cheese in another small bowl until smooth. Beat in sugar, egg, and vanilla extract. Spread over the crust. Arrange pear slices over the cream cheese layer.
• Combine sugar, cardamom, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Sprinkle over the pears.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Continue baking until filling is set and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center reads 160 degrees F (71 degrees C), 15 to 20 minutes.
• Cool tart on a wire rack for 1 hour. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before slicing.

JOHN'S PEAR AND ALMOND-CREAM TART

Steps:

• Make dough: In a food processor, combine flour, salt, and granulated sugar; pulse to combine. Add butter; pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal, with just a few pea-size pieces of butter remaining. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons ice water. Pulse until dough is crumbly but holds together when squeezed (if necessary, gradually add up to 2 tablespoons more ice water).
• Transfer dough (still crumbly) onto a piece of plastic wrap. Form into a 3/4-inch-thick disk; wrap tightly in plastic. Refrigerate until firm, 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. On a lightly floured work surface, roll dough to a 12-inch round. Fit into a 9-inch removable-bottom tart pan, pressing up sides. Run a rolling pin across the top of pan to trim the edge; refrigerate.
• Make filling: In a food processor, pulse almonds with confectioners' sugar until finely ground. Add butter, egg, flour, salt, and almond extract; process almond cream until well combined.
• Spread 1/4 cup jam on bottom of tart shell, then spread almond cream on top; chill for 15 minutes. Arrange pear slices in a fan pattern over almond cream; place tart on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake 40 to 45 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and almond cream is puffed and set. Transfer tart to a wire rack; let cool in pan. Remove tart from pan. Melt remaining 1/4 cup jam; brush over tart.

PEAR AND ALMOND TART

Steps:

• For pears:
• Bring 4 cups water, sugar, and lemon juice to boil in large saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Add pears. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until pears are very tender, turning occasionally, about 20 minutes. Cool pears in syrup. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)
• For crust:
• Blend powdered sugar, almonds, and salt in processor until nuts are finely ground. Add butter and blend until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl occasionally. Mix in egg yolk. Add flour. Using on/off turns, blend until dough comes together in clumps. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Wrap in plastic and chill at least 3 hours. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep refrigerated.)
• For almond filling:
• Finely grind almonds and flour in processor. Mix in 7 tablespoons sugar, then butter, blending until smooth. Mix in egg. Transfer filling to medium bowl. Cover and chill at least 3 hours. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep chilled.)
• Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 375°F. Roll out chilled dough on floured sheet of parchment paper to 12-inch round, lifting and turning dough occasionally to free from paper. Using paper as aid, turn dough into 9-inch-diameter tart pan with removable bottom; peel off paper. Seal any cracks in dough. Trim overhang to 1/2 inch. Fold overhang in, making double-thick sides. Pierce crust all over with fork. Freeze crust 10 minutes.
• Line crust with buttered foil, buttered side down, then fill with dried beans or pie weights. Bake crust until sides are set, about 20 minutes. Remove foil and beans. Bake crust until sides are golden and bottom is set, pressing with back of fork if crust bubbles, about 10 minutes longer. Cool crust in pan on rack. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F.
• Spread almond filling evenly in crust. Stem pears and cut each in half lengthwise; scoop out cores. Cut each half crosswise into thin slices. Gently press each pear half to fan slices but keep slices tightly overlapped. Slide spatula under pears and arrange atop filling like spokes of wheel with narrow ends in center.
• Bake tart until golden and tester inserted into center of filling comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Cool tart in pan on rack. Push pan bottom up, releasing tart from pan. (Can be made 8 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.) Cut tart into wedges; sprinkle with powdered sugar, if desired, and serve.