Pastry:
200g plain flour
100g butter or margarine
30g caster sugar
1 egg
Filling:
2 eggs
100g caster sugar
4 pears, peeled and halved
100g ground almonds
½ teaspoon almond essence
30g melted butter
50g self-raising flour, sifted
almond slivers (optional)
- Make the pastry by rubbing the butter into the flour until it looks like fine breadcrumbs. Mix in the sugar and then use the egg to bind the dough together. If there is not enough liquid to bind, then add a small amount of cold water or milk.
- If time allows, cover the pastry dough and leave to rest/chill for at least 1 hour before rolling out.
- Roll out the pastry to line a 20 cm loose-based flan tin. Prick the base and return to the fridge to keep cool.
- Make the filling: Whisk the eggs and sugar until pale and light. Fold in the ground almonds and essence, then the melted butter and finally the flour and baking powder.
- Put some of the almond mixture into the pastry case then sit the peeled, halved pears on top. Fill in the gaps with the remaining almond mixture. The pears will end up with a thin covering of almond mix. This is good as it prevents them drying out in baking. Decorate with almond slivers (optional).
- Bake the tart in a pre-heated oven at 180 C / Gas 4 for 30-40 minutes.
Other uses for pears: they are also nice added to chocolate or ginger cakes/puddings.