The topic for the ninth edition of Sugar High Fridays, one of the many excellent food blogging events, was Tantalizing Titillating Tempting Tarts. I am quite the tart fan and I decided to take this opportunity to learn to make something new. I decided on a pear and almond frangipane tart. I based the recipe primarily on this recipe, though I made some notable changes. I used almonds in place of the hazelnuts because they were more readily available here. I also substituted canned pears at the suggestion of another pear tart recipe. This worked well, though you must be sure to properly dry the pear halves before use. Lastly, per the suggestion of other cooks in the comment section, I cut the almond flavoring in half.
This was a very tantalizing, titillating, and tempting tart and it was incredibly easy to make. It is also a fairly healthy tart (except the butter and sugar. . .), but with only two eggs, almonds, and pears you fare pretty well. The hardest part was cutting the pears and keeping them nicely arranged while transferring to the tart. I used a a flat cake knife to slide under the pears once I had fanned them and was ready to move them. Having an extra pear half or two on hand is a good idea.
This was a great theme. To find out what the next topic for this event and others will be, visit the Is My Blog Burning website.
show hide 10 comments
Mindy - Damn Gemma.
Those are just beautiful.
Melissa - Oh my, that looks gorgeous! I made that second pear tart recipe a while back, but I thought that either canned pears don’t have enough flavor or else the ones I bought weren’t that good because they ended up being kind of mushy and flavorless… Guess I should poach my own next time! But I love the combination of pear and almond, yum!
keiko - Gemma, this looks so yummy, I wish I could take a bite…
Zarah Maria - LOVELY! Oh so LOVELY!
Nosheteria - Beautiful! I never have the patience to slide pears into a tart making them look quite as lovely
Oliver - Hi Gemma,
What a great entry for SHF, your pear and almond frangipane tart looks truly delish! It actually reminds me of my favourite sweet apple tart I used to make waaay back in highschool (yep – we really had official baking lessons at the time, can you believe that?!). Thanks for sharing!
Jennifer - Gemma that is one gorgeous tart. You’ve inspired me to make something like that tonight when I get home from work…thanks!
And thank you for joining in on SHF – long time no see!
gemma - Awww, thanks everyone. The attractiveness-to-work ratio on this tart is truly excellent.
Melissa, I was fairly happy with the canned pears, but I am positive fresh poached pears would be much better. Using a crisp white wine for poaching would be lovely, I bet.
Nosheteria, I thought it would take quite a bit of concentration, but I only dropped one attempt and the rest worked fairly smoothly. Having plenty of extra pear halves just in case made the whole process less stressful.
Oliver, thanks! I’d love to hear more about your sweet apple tart. I had a lot of fun with this one. I’d be a much better cook if I had official school baking lessons, but in the end I am glad it isn’t a requirement!
Thanks Jennifer, I was so sad for last months SHF. I completely missed the topic (I thought I had checked the IMBB website. . .). When I suddenly saw all the excellent entries I became determined not to let this one pass me by.
sarah - wow – that looks incredible. i love the design :)
gemma - Thanks Sarah!