Pear Frangipane Tart

Honey, I'm home! I've been gone quite a long while. There were a whole number of factors, but now it's all back to normal. Although I haven't been posting lately, I've certainly been cooking. Yesterday I made a delicious pear frangipane tart from Martha Stewart's original Pies and Tarts book. Pears are my sweetie's favorite, and they're actually looking good in Alaskan markets right now! It was beautiful and it didn't last very long!

Martha's recipe begins by poaching firm but ripe Bartlett pears in a dry white wine syrup that has a cinnamon stick, a vanilla bean, some lemon zest, and lemon juice. They are then cooled, sliced and arranged on an unbaked tart that has been filled with a frangipane filling. Frangipane is an almond filling made with finely ground almonds, sugar, egg, butter, and in this case almond extract and golden rum. I left it in the oven a few minutes too long, and put a little too much of the frangipane, but it didn't really matter in the end.

Here is my beautiful tart before I baked it.

If you have too many poached pears, as I did, you can either make another tart (I'll be posting my second pear tart soon), or eat them with a little cream, whipped cream, or ricotta with cream, sugar, and cinnamon for a second simple dessert or breakfast treat. This morning I sat down with a poached pear drizzled with cream and watched Masterpiece Mystery's Inspector Lewis. It was a much needed break between my days which are cram-packed with physics and chemistry homework. 

I hope you look into Martha's book, Pies and Tarts. She has a new edition out which I haven't looked over yet, but her original from 1985 is truly inspired. Any pie and tart lover should buy this book.