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PEAR AND HAZELNUT FRANGIPANE TART

This simple crust-less tart is a lovely recipe to have up your sleeve to pull out any time of the year using any selection of seasonal fruit. It can be whipped up in less than an hour if you have last-minute visitors calling and the not-so-naughty salted caramel pear sauce will have them guessing.
Servings 8 people
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 cup hazelnuts or almonds, or 1 1/4 cups pre-ground nuts*
  • 1/3 cup white flour
  • 1 teaspoon  baking powder
  • 80 g unsalted butter at room temperature
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 eggs
  • 1-2 pears, peeled and sliced into thin wedges

*ground hazelnuts, almond meal or almond flour

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius. Generously grease a 22cm loose-bottomed tart tin (or cake tin) or 4 x 10cm tart tins for smaller servings.
  • If using whole nuts, use a food processor to finely grind then tip into a bowl. Tip: adding 2 tablespoons of the flour quantity to the processor while blending will absorb the oil released by the nuts preventing them from turning to nut butter before they grind into a fine meal.
  • Wipe out the processor bowl and return to the machine. Add the butter, sugar and honey and blend until creamy, scraping down the sides as needed. Add the vanilla then eggs one at a time blending until thick. Add the ground nuts, remaining flour and baking powder to the processor and pulse 6 times. Scrape down the sides and pulse several more times until just combined. Scoop the batter into the prepared tin and snugly arrange the pear wedges or chosen seasonal fruit on the surface. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the tart resists when lightly pressed. Cool in the tin. Serve warm or cold dolloped with salted caramel pear sauce and/or lightly whipped cream.