Ingredients
Pastry:
- 125g Cake Flour
- 60g Butter, Cubed
- 60g Castor Sugar
- 2ea. Eggs Yolks
- 2 ½ ml Vanilla Extract
- 2 ½ ml Salt
- 250 ml Crème Fraîche
Poached Pears:
- 375ml White Wine
- 60g Sugar
- 6ea. Pears, Halved
- ½ tsp. Lemon, Zest
- 1each Vanilla Pod
- 2 each Cinnamon Stick
- 5ml Dried Buchu Leaves
Mint cocolate glaze:
- 160 chocolate, dark
- 3 tbsp cream
- 1/4 tsp peppermint oil
- 150g chocolate, mint crisp
Pear Filling:
- 100g Butter, Unsalted
- 125ml Castor Sugar
- 100g Almonds, Ground
- 1ea. Egg
- 20ml Rum
- 25g Cake Flour
- 1ml Almond Extract
- 6ea. Pears, Halved
Preparation method
Pastry:
- Preheat oven to 190°C.
- Sift the flour with salt onto working surface.
- Make well in centre.
- Add rest of ingredients to centre.
- Using the fingers, with pecking motion, combine ingredients well.
- Using palette knife in other hand, draw flour, cutting into butter mixture.
- Draw together and knead until smooth.
- Do not overwork.
- Chill well before use.
- Roll out pastry to ±3 mm thick.
- Line a pastry ring (23cm).
- Prick and bake blind for 10 – 15 minutes, at 190°C.
- Loosen the edges, and bottom immediately.
- Leave to cool.
Poached Pears:
- Poached Pears
- Combine all ingredients, except pears, in large saucepan.
- Bring the mixture to a boil and cook for 5 minutes.
- Half pears lengthwise, removing core and stem.
- Add pears, lower heat, and cook for ±25 minutes, until pears are tender.
- If necessary, turn the pear over gently so that they cook evenly.
- Leave to cool.
Pear Frangipane Filling:
- Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add egg, ground almonds, rum, almond extract, and flour.
- Beat until smooth.
- Spread the thick mixture evenly into the chilled Pâte Sablée.
- Refrigerate while preparing pears
- Remove cooled poached pears from the liquid (reserve liquid).
- Cut each half crosswise into thin slices.
- Arrange sliced pear halves on frangipane.
- Leave enough space between pear slices for frangipane to rise.
- Place one-half in the centre of tart.
- Spread the pears towards centre of tart, filling the space.
- Bake for 45 min, until tart shell is golden brown and frangipane has puffed and browned.
- While tart is baking, bring reserved liquid to a boil to reduce by half.
- Brush this glaze lightly over tart as soon as it comes out of oven.
- Leave to cool.