Bourdaloue Tart with Pears and Almonds recipe

Bourdaloue Tart with Pears and Almonds

Bourdaloue Tart has been created in 1850 and sold at a bakery placed on Bourdaloue Street in Paris. Specific for this tart is the filling made from almond meal, over which are placed halves of pears and then are sprinkled almonds and/or peanuts. Italians call „frangipane” this almond filling but as we know the French have a passion for renaming in their language almost everything they put on the table 🙂 I poached the pears into a flavored syrup for this tart; but they can also be used fresh.

INGREDIENTS Bourdaloue Tart with Pears and Almonds

►Crust

• 250 g all purpose wheat flour
• 125 g butter chilled and chopped
• 2 tablespoons vanilated powdered sugar
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 egg
• 2-3 tablespoons chilled water

►Poached pears

• 300 g granulated sugar
• 700 ml water
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 star anise
• 5-6 pears

►Filling

• 100 g butter (60-65% fat), softened
• 100 g vanilated powdered sugar
• 100 g almond flour
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons of dark rum
• 2-3 tablespoons of almond flakes

DIRECTIONS Bourdaloue Tart with Pears and Almonds

►Crust: Mix flour, butter, salt and sugar until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the egg and homogenize. Finally add enough cold water to bind the composition and to obtain a soft dough. Wrap in cling film and place in the fridge until firm (at least one hour). Then preheat the oven to 175 Celsius degrees. Take the dough from the refrigerator, remove the cling film and put the dough onto the table dusted with flour. Roll out the dough and place it into a tart mold. Lightly prick the bottom with a fork, line the tart shell with baking paper and fill with pie weights (I used a cup of dried chickpeas). Bake in the oven until pastry is pale golden along rim (15-20 minutes). When ready, remove the pan from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.

►Poached pears: Combine water, sugar, cinnamon stick and star anise in a large saucepan and bring to a simmer; then reduce the heat. Meanwhile, peel, halve and core the pears, then slip them into the syrup and cook until tender (15-20 minutes).When ready, drain the pears and let cool.

► Almond filling: Mix butter with sugar until creamy. Add gradually eggs (one at a time), rum and almond meal. Mix until homogenized (about 1 minute on high speed).

ASSEMBLING Bourdaloue Tart with Pears and Almonds

Pour the filling into the tart crust and level. Place the pear halves over the filling. Sprinkle almond flakes. Bake the tart at 175 Celsius for about 35-40 minutes (or until golden brown). Then remove from the oven and let cool.

Notes:

• The almond flour can be replaced with grounded walnut
• You can use canned pears instead of poaching fresh pears
• Don’t throw away the poaching syrup. It can be strained and stored in a jar into the fridge and can be used later for moistening a sponge cake or to soak dried fruits.