Manon Lagrève’s almond, pear and tonka bean tart

Manon Lagrève’s almond, pear and tonka bean tart

If you’re looking for a dinner party dessert in the autumn months this winner from queen of French bakes, Manon Lagrève, is guaranteed to please!

Manon Lagrève’s almond, pear and tonka bean tart

Manon says: “This might be the most elegant tart there is. Pears are so understated, but they’re so tasty. Especially when juicy and paired with a tonka bean frangipane! You can find tonka beans in professional baking shops or online. They have such an incredibly sweet flavour – close to vanilla but more powerful. This is a straightforward recipe and you can use some ready-made short pastry to make it even quicker. It’s a great tart to end an autumn dinner.”

Recipe taken from Et Voila: A Simple French Baking Love Story by Manon Lagrève (OH Editions, £22) and tested by delicious.

  • Serves icon Serves 8
  • Time icon Hands-on time 20 min, plus 40 min chilling, oven time 40 min

If you’re looking for a dinner party dessert in the autumn months this winner from queen of French bakes, Manon Lagrève, is guaranteed to please!

Manon says: “This might be the most elegant tart there is. Pears are so understated, but they’re so tasty. Especially when juicy and paired with a tonka bean frangipane! You can find tonka beans in professional baking shops or online. They have such an incredibly sweet flavour – close to vanilla but more powerful. This is a straightforward recipe and you can use some ready-made short pastry to make it even quicker. It’s a great tart to end an autumn dinner.”

Recipe taken from Et Voila: A Simple French Baking Love Story by Manon Lagrève (OH Editions, £22) and tested by delicious.

Nutrition: per serving

Calories
508kcals,
Fat
33g (16g saturated)
Protein
8.7g
Carbohydrates
41g (23g sugars)
Fibre
5g
Salt
0.6g

Ingredients

For the pastry

  • 100g salted butter, at room temperature, diced
  • 2 tsp caster sugar
  • 175g plain flour, plus extra to dust
  • 1 medium free-range egg yolk
  • 2 tbsp whole milk

For the filling

  • 120g salted butter, at room temperature
  • 90g caster sugar
  • 2 medium free-range eggs
  • 120g ground almonds
  • ½ tonka bean, finely grated (see Know-how)
  • 1 tsp plain flour
  • 4 ripe pears (3 if large)
  • Flaked almonds to scatter
  • Icing sugar to dust

You’ll also need

  • 23cm-25cm fluted tart tin
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Method

  1. Make the pastry: in a bowl, use your fingers to rub the butter, sugar, flour and a pinch of salt together until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolk and milk and quickly mix to form a ball of dough. Don’t worry if it’s not fully smooth; you don’t want to overwork the dough. Cover and put in the fridge for 20 minutes.
  2. To make the filling, cream the butter and sugar together using a spatula, then add the eggs and whisk well. Stir in the ground almonds, tonka bean and flour, then set aside.
  3. Lightly dust your work surface with flour, then roll the pastry into a 3-4mm thick circle. Use it to line your tart tin, using your fingers to press it into the sides. Trim away the excess pastry, creating a neat edge. Use a fork to prick a few holes in the base and put the tin in the fridge for 20 minutes or the freezer for 5 minutes.
  4. Heat the oven to 180°C fan/gas 6. Meanwhile, peel and core the pears, then slice in half from top to bottom. Slice each half thinly, keeping the slices attached at the base. Put the pears in the bottom of the tin, fanning out the slices, then fill the empty spaces with the almond cream. Sprinkle over some flaked almonds and bake for 35-40 minutes until golden on top. Serve warm or cold, dusted with icing sugar.

Nutrition

Nutrition: per serving
Calories
508kcals,
Fat
33g (16g saturated)
Protein
8.7g
Carbohydrates
41g (23g sugars)
Fibre
5g
Salt
0.6g

delicious. tips

  1. The beauty of this recipe is its powerful tonka bean flavour (available from Spice Mountain) but if you find them difficult to get hold of you could use the scraped seeds from a vanilla pod instead.

Buy ingredients online

Recipe By:

Manon Lagrève

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