Chocolate Pear Tart

Once a month I catch up with the girls in our seaside village for book club, to swap our latest reads, latest gossip and a few glasses of wine. When I was first invited I as a bit apprehensive since I could list the great literal books I have read on two hands and thought I might be out of my depth. The crowd is a social bunch and we enjoy a good chat and usually remember before the night draws to a close to talk about the books we have read that month. 

The girls have been asking for several months since I have been Blogging to show them how to make an easy fail safe dessert that would impress. I thought about it for a while, trying to decided what we could create in an hour, get in the oven and eat before the end of the evening. This ruled out anything with several components as it would take too long and most of them wouldn’t have time to make something like that since they all juggled work and families. Since P and I are heading off to France in a few weeks I decide to make them how to make a frangipane tart, since they are pretty fail safe, but this one I would add chocolate to.

Ingredients ? pastry

110g Butter
180g flour
60g icing sugar
60g Ground almonds
1 tbsp cocoa
1 egg

Method ? pastry

Preheat oven to 180 degrees centigrade.
Grease and flour a loose bottom flan tin.
Place the flour, butter, sugar, cocoa and ground almonds in a bowl.
Work the ingredients together until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs.
Add the egg and bring dough together.
Rest dough in fridge for an hour before rolling out.
Roll out pastry to fit bottom & sides of tin.
Allow to rest in the fridge until tart filling is prepared.

Ingredients ? tart filling

200g butter
200g castor sugar
200g ground almonds
200g dark chocolate
2 tbsp plain flour
4 eggs
6 figs or 4 pears

Method ? tart filling

Prepare loose bottom tart tins or one large tin by greasing them and then dusting them with flour.
On a floured surface roll out pastry thinly to fit tart tin
Separate the eggs and whisk the white until fluffy.
Make the frangipane filling by creaming the butter & sugar together until light and fluffy.
Gradually beat in the egg yolks one at a time.
Mix in the ground almonds and melted chocolate.
Fold in the egg whites and then spread the frangipane mixture over the tart base.
Prepare the fruit and arrange over the frangipane mixture.
Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the frangipane is golden and risen slightly and is like sponge to touch. Smaller tarts will only require 25-35 minutes.