Hazelnut Pear Frangipane Tart; buttery shortcrust pastry with a deliciously bold hazelnut filling and sweet fresh pears.
We have a lot of hazelnuts right now. Like, we have a lot of hazelnuts right now.
Ingredient shopping in this pandemic has been challenging for some of us, but it does have some of us paying more attention to the reduced section in local shops. The reduced section gifted us a 1kg bag of hazelnuts for just £8 last week, so who was I to resist?
Hazelnuts are wonderfully versatile. They can be stirred or sprinkled into any dish, sweet or savoury, to add a great flavour. Salads, soups, breads, cakes, cookies, you name it.
You may have seen my recent recipe for Torta Gianduia, an incredible way to celebrate that hazelnut flavour. I also played around with some cookie bar recipes, some porridge toppings and some chocolates. Today’s recipe has been another product of this delicious natural ingredient.
Need some more hazelnut inspiration? Try this Kinder Bueno Cake!
Hazelnut Pear Frangipane Tart. Tender, crumbling, buttery shortcrust pastry that melts in the mouth. A moist and rich filling somewhere between a cake and a high-quality marzipan in texture. A deliciously intense hazelnut flavour, cut with the fresh sweetness of gently-baked pears. This tart is worth every second of effort.
Obviously, we’re a little past pear season. This Hazelnut Pear Frangipane Tart was actually quite good in this respect, it meant the sad hard pears in the fruit bowl got a chance at being delicious. This tart would be fantastic with some properly flavourful winter pears though, the fat and juicy Conference or Williams kind. You can always use tinned pears for recipe too, there is absolutely no fruit snobbery welcome at Maverick Baking. Tinned fruit is bloody great, just try and get the kind in juice rather than in syrup for best flavour.
Traditionally, pear frangipane tarts are typically made with almonds. Almonds are more readily available, but why make something everyone else has made a million times, eh? These recipes usually also call for poaching the pears, which is probably a good idea for peak softness but honestly who has the time? This blog has its title for a reason.
You will need a food processor or blender for this Hazelnut Pear Frangipane Tart. I appreciate this is something that might not be an option for everyone, but investing in an affordable model can make your cooking a lot easier! When it comes to blending, chopping, blitzing, or mixing, it can really save time and effort. Cheesecake bases, homemade nut butter, cookie dough bites – it’s worth it!
Serve this Hazelnut Pear Frangipane Tart as it is for an afternoon treat. Or you could serve it still a little bit warm with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream or clotted cream for a great dessert. It seems to suit tastes in warm or cold weather too, which is no bad thing. In fact, it even makes a fabulous breakfast if you’re in the mood to be lavish. Which should be every day in my opinion.
Obviously this won’t be the easiest thing you ever bake, but it’s definitely a triumph when you do. Plus, all this time indoors is giving us all more opportunity to hone our kitchen skills! Why not give it a bash?
Want to save this Hazelnut Pear Frangipane Tart recipe for later? Pin the image below!
To make this Hazelnut Pear Frangipane Tart, simply follow the recipe below!
Hazelnut Pear Frangipane Tart
Notes
BE A MAVERICK: why not swap out 30g of the flour for cocoa powder for a chocolatey twist on this Hazelnut Pear Frangipane Tart?
This Hazelnut Pear Frangipane Tart will keep well in an airtight container or on a covered cake stand for up to 4 days. No need to refrigerate, unless you prefer to eat it cold!
Ingredients
For the shortcrust pastry:
- 200g (1 ½ cups) plain flour
- 120g (8 tbsp) cold salted butter, cut into cubes
- 2 tbsp icing sugar
- 2-3 tbsp cold water
For the hazelnut frangipane filling:
- 140g (1 ¼ cups) whole hazelnuts, blanched or skin-on
- 100g (6 ½ tbsp) softened salted butter
- 100g (½ cup) caster sugar or soft light brown sugar
- 60g (scant ½ cup) plain flour
- 2 large eggs
- 2 Conference or Williams pears, just bordering on ripe
Instructions
For the shortcrust pastry:
- In your food processor or blender, blitz all the pastry ingredients except the water until there are no large lumps of butter left.
- Add the cold water until the pastry comes together into a smooth ball of dough. If too sticky then add more flour, if too dry then add more water.
- Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface until it’s just a bit thicker than a £1 coin.
- Lightly wrap the dough around the rolling pin, lift and unroll into your pie/tart dish.
- Use your fingers to gently press the dough into the dish.
- Cut the excess pastry off the edges, prick the pastry all over with a fork and chill it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, preheat your oven – 190 C / 170 C fan / 375 F / gas mark 5.
- Use either a scrunched-up piece of greaseproof paper or some foil to line the chilled pastry, fill it with either some dry pasta or ceramic baking beans and bake for 20 minutes. This is known as blind-baking and just gives the pastry a chance to crisp up slightly and keep structure before adding the filling!
- Remove the part-baked pastry shell from the oven – turning the oven down to 180 C / 160 C fan / 350 F / gas mark 4 – and allow the shell to cool slightly while you make the filling.
For the hazelnut frangipane filling:
- Place your hazelnuts into your food processor or blender and blitz until they have the texture of fine breadcrumbs. This may take up to 5 minutes.
- Add the remaining frangipane ingredients, except the pears, and blitz again until just combined into a fairly smooth mixture. It should look like a cake batter.
- Pour your hazelnut frangipane filling into the cooled pastry case.
- Peel and slice up your pears however you like and arrange them on top of the filling, pressing them in gently.
- Bake the tart in your preheated oven for 35-45 minutes, or until the filling is firm to touch and a skewer inserted into the centre can be cleanly removed.
- Remove the baked tart from the oven and allow to cool completely before slicing.
- Enjoy!
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Hi, I have raw hazelnuts to work with and I’m just curious if they should be toasted before using in the frangipane? Thanks!
Hello, and thanks for your question! As the tart will be in the oven for 30+ minutes I don’t feel that the nuts need to be toasted as well.