Frangipane Tart with Pears (French Tarte Bourdaloue)

Many a Parisian knows of their Bourdaloue pear tart. It's a classic almond and pear tart found in many patisseries and has been glazing around the City of Light since the 1900s. Bourdaloue is a tart invented by a pastry chef in Paris' rue Bourdaloue during la Belle Epoque. Opinions diverge on the pastry chef who is at the origin of this pie. Some attribute the tarte Bourdaloue to Fasquelle and others to Lesserteur. This luscious dessert is composed of poached pears, sweet crust, frangipane or almond cream and sometimes topped with broken macarons, amaretti biscuits, almond slivers and finally glazed in the oven. It is also common to warm apricot jam and glaze the tart before serving.

Sweet Shortcrust:
1 2/3 cup all-purpose flour, unbleached
¼ cup sugar
½ tsp. kosher salt
10 Tbsp. butter, chilled, cut in pieces
1 egg yolk
½ tsp. pure vanilla extract
3 Tbsp. water, ice cold

Poached Pears:
4 cups water
1½ cups sugar
1 stick cinnamon
1 star anise
4 pears, ripe but firm

Frangipane (Almond Cream):
2 1/3 cups whole milk
1 vanilla bean
3 eggs, lightly beaten
¾ cup sugar
½ cup all-purpose flour, unbleached
1/3 cup almonds, blanched, slivered
1/3 cup confectioners' sugar
2 Tbsp. butter

Garnish:
crushed amaretti biscuits or slivered almonds
confectioners' sugar

Make the Crust:
In a food processor, combine the flour and salt and add the cut up butter. Whiz until the butter is well integrated, as you would for a pie crust. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and whiz to combine. Add the ice water and whiz just until the dough begins to come together. Dump out the dough, press it into a flattened oval and put in the fridge to chill a bit.

Poach the Pears:
While the dough is chilling, poach the pears. Peel them, cut them in half, leaving the stem and core intact to help keep the pears' shape. Place them in a large pan with the water, sugar, cinnamon stick, and star anise, bring to a near-boil, then simmer them for about 15 minutes, turning them over once, until the fruit is just tender. Don't over cook them here or you'll have trouble with them later. When the pears are tender remove the pan from the heat and allow the fruit to cool in the syrup.

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C/180°C fan, Gas Mark 6).

Roll Out the Dough:
Remove the dough from the fridge and roll it out on a lightly floured board to fit into an 11 or 12" tart pan. Prick the dough all over with a fork, then gently fit a sheet of foil into the pan and fill it with beans or rice or pie weights if you have them. Bake the dough for 20 minutes, then remove it from the oven, carefully remove the weighted foil, and allow the tart shell to cool. You can leave the oven on here, or heat it up again a little later.

Make the Frangipane:
While the tart shell is baking, begin making the almond cream. Place the milk in a large measuring cup, scrape the seeds of the vanilla bean into the milk, and toss in the rest of the vanilla bean. Warm the milk on the stovetop until it is near boiling.

While the milk is heating, whisk the eggs and sugar together in a sauce pan, then whisk in the flour. Slowly whisk in the hot milk (after removing the split vanilla beans), being careful to whisk out any lumps. Cook this mixture over medium heat until very thick, whisking constantly, about 8-10 minutes. Pour this custard into a mixing bowl and whisk in the butter until it melts. Grind the slivered almonds in the food processor with the confectioners' sugar until you have a very fine powder. Whisk this almond powder into the custard and set it aside to cool. Whisking it frequently will help it cool faster.

Assembly:
While the custard is cooling, remove the pears from the syrup and place them on a cutting board. With a small, sharp knife, delicately remove the stems and cores, doing your best to keep the pear intact. Turn the pear halves over and slice them thinly, but leave the pointed end intact, only slice them up to about ¼" from the top. This is easier to do than to describe, just take your time here, because the beauty of the tart depends on this step.

Once the custard has cooled to room temperature place it gently in the tart shell and smooth the surface. Using a small offset spatula, carefully scoop up the pear halves and nestle them into the custard.

Bake the tart for 30 minutes.

Remove the tart from the oven, and if you're using the amaretti (which gives a nice little crunch and additional hit of almond flavour), tun the oven to broil. Decoratively scatter the cookie crumbs over the custard, if desired. Dust the pears lightly with confectioners' sugar and place the tart under the broiler for a minute or two while the crumbs brown.