COOKING WITH LEE
Burnt Butter Frangipane, Whiskey, Almond and Pear Tart with Honey Roasted Pears
THERE is everything in this tart, and I love each and every single part of it. From the burnt butter that
gives the frangipane a deep and rich flavour to the side dish of the whiskey honey roasted pears,
that are also pureed and add a layer to the centre of the tart.
I love it all.
The only problem with the tart is that it’s not a quick make, the pastry needs to rest in the fridge
and the burnt butter needs to set up, so if you take my tip, I think ahead and make the pastry and
burnt butter the day before ready for assembly and bake the following day.
I lied when i said there was only one problem. The other is that I never know what to serve the tart
with. A home-made vanilla ice cream is a favourite to go along with this tart, complimenting it
perfectly. Of course, for those who don’t like vanilla ice cream, there’s always the choice of a great
vanilla custard or some Chantilly cream, but If that’s the only problem I have with this tart, I can live
with that.
Go on, give it a go and enjoy your sweet life! Lee X
What You Need
Pastry
300g Plain Flour
180g Butter – Cold
125g Light Brown Sugar
3 Large Egg Yolks
1 Egg White for brushing the pastry
1 1/2 tbsp old Water
30g Flaked Almonds
Honey Roasted Pears
350g Runny Honey
120g Light Brown Sugar
80ml Whiskey
6 Ripe Pears – See Tip Box
1tsp Vanilla Extract
Burnt Butter Frangipane
180g Butter – Cold and cut into pieces
180g Ground Almonds
125g Light Brown Sugar
70g Plain Flour plus more for tin preparation
60g Runny Honey
3 Large Eggs
3 tbsp Whiskey
For Serving
Double Cream, Chantilly Cream, Vanilla Ice Cream or Creme Fraiche.
How It’s Done
Pastry
Put the flour and sugar into a food processor and give it a whizz to mix it up.
Make sure the butter is cut into small pieces and while the food processor is on, add the butter one
piece at a time.
Whizz the food processor until the flour and butter mixture looks like breadcrumbs.
Add the three egg yolks and 1 1/2 tbsp of cold water and let the food processor run until the
contents comes together.
Turn the machine off, and turn out the dough onto a clean work surface.
Use hands to quickly bring the dough together into a ball – Don’t over work the dough – See Tip Box
Once the dough is together, divide the dough into two pieces, one 2/3rds and the other 1/3rd.
Wrap the piece of dough in cling film and place in the fridge to rest for around 2 hours.
While the pastry is resting prepare the burnt butter frangipane and the pears.
Honey Roasted Pears
Heat the oven to 180c
Put the honey, sugar, whiskey, and the vanilla into a small saucepan and over a low heat, heat it until
everything is dissolved – stirring all the time so the mixture doesn’t catch on the bottom of the pan.
Peel the pears and cut in half lengthways, and using a small spoon or melon baller, scoop out the
centre of the hard centre of the pear.
Place the pears, cut side up, in a shallow roasting tin, so the pears fit snuggly together in a single
layer.
Pour the honey mixture over the pears and put the tin into the oven to bake for 30-40 minutes until
the pears are tender and the syrup becomes sticky.- See Tip Box
Once ready, remove the tin from the oven and let them cool in the tin, until they are cool enough to
handle.
Once cool enough to handle, put 4 of the pear halves and 1tbsp of the syrup into a clean food
processor and whizz until they turn into a pear puree.
Put the pear puree into a bowl and let it sit until needed.
Scrape the rest of the syrup into a separate bowl, and leave it until needed.
Once the pears have finished cooking, reduce the oven to 160c.
Burnt Butter Frangipane
Place the pieces of butter into a small saucepan.
Heat the butter on a low to medium heat until it melts.
Once melted, keep heating the butter and keep swirling it in the pan.
Watch it very carefully, the melted butter will go from just melted to burnt in seconds.
When the bubbles start to slow down, as the melted butter is being swirled, it will start to go brown.
Once the butter is brown, immediately take the butter off the heat and remove the butter into a
bowl and put the bowl in the fridge until it sets.
Once the butter is set, scrape the burnt butter into the bowl of an electric mixer, add the sugar and
the honey, and beat using a beat paddle until it is light and fluffy – be patient and scrape the sides of
the bowl down a few times.
Once light and fluffy, beat in the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the bowl as you go.
Add the ground almonds, flour, whiskey and beat it until everything is just combined, don’t over
beat – See Tip Box
Place an oven tray in the oven so that it gets hot, leave it there until needed.
Line another tray with non-stick baking parchment and set it aside until needed.
Find a loose bottomed round tart tin, around 20cm X 30cm or the equivalent in a square tin.
Rub margarine or butter all over the inside of the tin making sure to get into all the corners and
ridges if there are any.
Put a little flour into the tin and roll it around the tin until it’s all coated with the flour.
Tap out any excess flour.
Take the larger piece of pastry from the fridge, roll it out to around 3mm thickness, and line a tart
tin, making sure to gently press the pastry into the corners and ridges. – See Tip Box
Leave a small overhang of pastry around the edges.
Place the lined tin in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
Roll out the smaller piece of pastry to 3mm and lie it onto the lined being tray. Put it in the fridge for
at least 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, remove the tart tin from the fridge and using a sharp knife, trim away any excess
pastry, so the edges are tidy.
Cut the pastry that is on the baking tray, into rough diamond shapes, around 2cm X 3cm and set
them aside until needed.
Put half the frangipane in the pastry lined tart tin and spread it around so that it’s as flat as it can be.
Next comes the pear puree. Again, level the puree, right across the bottom frangipane layer.
Top the puree with the remaining frangipane and use a spatular to make it into an even smooth
layer.
Randomly place the pastry diamonds over the top of the frangipane, and brush each of he diamonds
with the egg white.
Scatter the flakes almonds all over the top of the tart.
Put the tart onto the hot tray that was in the oven, and then return the tray back to the oven to bake
for around 60 minutes – See Tip Box
The tart is cooked when the top is a rich golden-brown colour and when the middle is pressed gently
with a finger, the frangipane bounces back.
Let the tart sit in the tin to cool completely before running a thin sharp knife around the inside edge,
to loosen the pastry.
Serve at room temperature with the poached pears on the side.
Tip box
Pears – Use the pears you love for this tart. As long as the pears are ripe, so not hard, they will work.
I always think that using the ingredients I love will automatically make the end product better, and
i’m usually right
Making Pastry – Making the pastry is easy, it just takes time to set up so that it is easier to work with.
But even if the pastry does break when lining the tin, it’s not the end of the world. Its really easy to
patch up but pushing it together.
Do not over handle the pastry – if handled too much, the pastry will be tough to eat.
Frangipane – Love frangipane, but as with lots of other things in baking, over handling, or in this
case, over beating, will make the frangipane tough to eat. So be very careful, and only beat until
everything is just brought together.
Baking the Tart – Having a soggy bottom is a no no with any tart, and my tip to solve this issue of a
wet underneath, is to heat an oven tray to a high temperature and when that tart is ready for the
oven, put the prepared tart straight onto the hot tray. This way the bottom of the tart starts to cook
straight away instead of coming up to cooking temperature slowly.
