This was one of the later additions to our christmas party buffet. We’d planned on making our fig and ginger frangipane tarts from the beginning, but after making quince jelly last week we knew we needed to use it in a bake of ours. So the quince and pear frangipane was born.
To begin with, we poached our pears in mulled wine (pretty good start don’t you think) Not only did this add a lovely flavour it also gave the pear slices a beautiful rosy red colour on the outside which looked really good once they were sliced and placed on top of the frangipane.
We chose to make these as small tarts ideal for an individual pudding or sliced up as part of a buffet, which is how we served them at our christmas party. But if you wanted to just make one big tart you could, just make sure to increase your baking time by about 15-20 mins.
- 200g plain flour
- 100g butter, chilled
- 1 egg
- 2 tbsp icing sugar
- 2 tbsp cold water
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 100g ground almonds, plus 2 tbsp extra
- 100g butter, softened
- 100g caster sugar
- 1 tbsp plain flour
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 2 eggs
- 150g quince jelly
- 2 pear (peeled with stalks still on)
- Icing sugar to dust
- Half fill a small saucepan with mulled wine and place in the pears, poach them on a low-medium heat until soft.
- In a food processor blitz together the flour, ginger sugar & butter to create a crumb texture. Mix together the egg, water & lemon juice & gradually add the liquid till the dough starts to form into a ball (you may need to add more water if it’s looking a little dry).
- Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface till about 3mm thick and line a 6 small tart cases (we used a rectangle one if you have it), using your fingers to push the pastry into the ridges around the edge, leave excess pastry hanging over the top & prick the bottom with a fork. Refrigerate for 15-30mins.
- Line the pastry case with greaseproof paper and fill with baking beans or rice, you now want to bake your pastry blind at 200C for 12mins, remove the paper and beans and bake for another 5 minutes to brown the pastry slightly. Reduce heat to 180C and remove from the oven to cool.
- Beat together the butter & sugar till fluffy to begin the frangipane. Stir in the rest of the ingredients, leaving the extra almonds out.
- Slice the pears lengthways into 2-3mm slices.
- Sprinkle the cooled pastry case with the extra ground almonds, this should help prevent a soggy bottom.
- Place about a tablespoon of quince jelly in each tart case and spread out to cover all of the base.
- Spoon over the frangipane mixture and smooth out pushing to the edges.
- Place the pear slices onto the frangipane. Bake for 35-30 minutes or until the filling is golden brown & a skewer comes out clean.
- Once cool remove from the tins and dust with icing sugar.
These little tarts are pretty damn tasty and the quince jelly keeps them from becoming too sweet as the tartness from it really comes through. They were described by guests at our christmas party as like bakewell tarts but better…
Dusting with icing sugar works well as it stays on top of the frangipane but is absorbed by the juiciness of the pears on top so it really makes them stand out.
