Rustic Pear Frangipane Tart

For the pastry:
In a large bowl, sift flour and add sugar. Mix with your hand. Throw in cold butter (cut into cubes) and, using your hands, work the butter into the flour mix until crumb-like in texture.

Add egg yolk and a bit of water. Mix. Add the rest of the water in a few stages, using your hands to mix the ingredients around until you form a ball. Don’t overwork the dough.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. You can also wrap the pastry in plastic and place it in the fridge.

For the pears:
Wash pears and cut in halves. Peel and remove seeds and any hard parts.

In a small sauce pan, combine water, sugar and ground cinnamon. Add pears and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer the pears until soft, 10–15 minutes. Once ready, drain and set aside.

For the frangipane:
In a large bowl, beat butter with sugar until fluffy. Add ground almonds, flour and beaten eggs. Mix until well combined.

To assemble the tart, grease and/or line a tart tin with baking paper.

Roll out your pastry; it should be larger than the tin you will be using. Make sure it’s not too thick or too thin. If too thin, it will tear easily. Somewhere between 3-5 mm is good. Place rolling pin on one side of the rolled pastry. With your hand, try to wrap the rolled out pastry around the rolling pin. Lift it up and transfer onto the tart tin.

Using fingertips, press pastry into the corners of tin. To avoid tearing, lift pastry with one hand and then press down into the corner with another one. Trim off the excess pastry using a knife.

Place in preheated oven and bake at 180ºC (350ºF) for 10 minutes. Take out, fill with frangipane and top with cooked (and drained) pears. Transfer back in the oven and bake for another 20–25 minutes, or until the filling has set.

Once ready, let cool before removing from the tin. Dust with icing sugar (optional) and serve!