Pear and Almond Cream Pie

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and set racks to the middle of your oven.

For the almond cream:

1. Crack egg into a bowl and whisk together completely. Set aside.

2. In the bowl of your stand mixer, fitted with your paddle attachment, beat your butter on medium to medium-high until light in color and the consistency of mayonnaise. This should take just a few minutes.

3. While that is beating, sift your almond meal and flour into a bowl, making sure to press out any and all clumps.

4. Sift your powdered sugar and add it into your beaten butter, with the mixer on low. Stop, scrape down sides and bottom of bowl, and mix for another 2-3 minutes on medium, until light and fluffy.

5. Stop mixer, scrape down sides and bottom again, and add your almond extract. Mix until incorporated. Add your almond and flour mixture and beat on medium another 30 seconds.

6. Stop and scrape mixer bowl again and add 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons of the beaten egg. From your bowl of well-beaten egg, just scoop and measure out with measuring spoons. Mix until combined, another 20-30 seconds. Scrape bowl and mix slightly again.

Place mixer bowl in refrigerator until needed.

For the pie:

1. Have your pie dough in the 9-inch pan, with edges fluted and ready to fill. Core and cut your large Bartlett pear into 1/8″ thick slices. I also cut each of those slices in half, width-wise to make sure they fit into my pie shell perfectly.

2. Fill your pastry bag (or zip-top bag) with the almond cream and pipe into your un-baked pie shell. If you’d like you can use a small offset spatula to even out that cream into a nice even layer.

3. Next, fan your pear slices over the top so that they spiral from the outer edge to the center of the pie. Sprinkle the vanilla sugar over the pears.

4. Bake for 40 minutes on the center rack of your oven. You’re looking for a nicely browned crust, browned pears, and puffed up filling. If the edges of your crust are browning too quickly, cover edges with tin foil and place back in oven!

Note: The almond cream can be made up to 4 days in advance. Just simply place the prepared cream into an airtight container and press plastic wrap directly onto the surface before fitting with lid. Then, place in refrigerator until the day you need it. On the day of, let it come to room temperature before using.

Adapted from Thomas Keller’s Bouchon.