Pear and Almond Frangipane Tart

Dear friends of the Haus of KKW,

You are cordially invited to the third KKW High Tea event, on Sunday May 2 in the fine year 2010. The venue is the Poon Palace.

Please bring a plate of delicious food, preferably servable in cute little portions, and any tasty and/or rare teas to share.

Hope everyone can make it!! Ex oh ex oh gossip girls and guys!!

This was my contribution. It looked fairly humble next to the Earl Grey tiramisu (handmade! down to the mascarpone and sponge!), chocolate macaroons, honey and lemon semolina cake, mini quiches, polenta squares with truffle mascarpone, bacon jam and sourdough, blue cheese and onion bites, pate, mini chicken pies, pink lemonade, durian sponge cake and everything else I forgot to mention...



Pâte Sablée
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
125 g butter, very cold, cut into small pieces
1 egg yolk


Poached Pears
3 ripe medium pears
3 cups water
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt


Frangipane
85g butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup almond meal
2 teaspoons flour
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 large egg plus 1 egg white
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons almond extract




Pears: Combine the water, sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon stick, vanilla, and salt in a saucepan large enough to hold all the pears and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Meanwhile, cut the pears in half, remove the seed core and fibrous cores at either end, then peel the pears.

Add the pear halves to the simmering syrup and reduce heat to low. Cover, and let pears poach for about 10 minutes, turning them halfway. The pears will become slightly translucent, very tender, and easily pierced with a knife or skewer.

Let the pears cool in the liquid until room temperature before using. Or, you can store them in their liquid in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.


Tart shell: Mix the flour, confectioner's sugar, and salt. Add the pieces of cold butter and use finger tips to massage the butter into the mixture. Add the egg yolk and combine until the dough starts to turn from dry to clumpy. The mixture will be clumpy, but do not overmix - when the dough pieces looks like they will stick when you press them together, stop.

Butter a tart tin with removable bottom. Turn the dough out into the tin and press into the bottom and up the sides with your fingers. If you have any leftover dough, save the extra for patching the shell after you bake it. Do not press the dough too hard or it will become tough.

Freeze the tart shell for at least 30 minutes. When you are ready to bake it, preheat the oven to 190 C.

To partially bake the tart shell, take a piece of foil and butter the shiny side, then press the buttered side tightly to the shell. You do not need pie weights. Place the tart shell on a baking sheet and bake for about 25 minutes until the shell is dry and lightly colored. If any places have cracked, repair with the extra dough. Let cool on a rack until room temperature.

NOTE: I baked it for 25 minutes and it was too long; after the final baking my tart shell was overdone, so I would recommend keeping a close eye on the oven during this step.


Frangipane: Combine the butter and sugar, mixing until smooth. Add the ground almonds; then add the flour and cornstarch; and then the egg and egg white. Mix until very smooth. Add in the vanilla and almond extracts just to blend.

The frangipane can be used immediately or you can store it in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. If it becomes too firm in the fridge, let it sit at room temperature for a while to soften before using.


Assembling the tart: Preheat the oven to 175 C. Spread the frangipane evenly into the cooled tart shell.

Take the poached pears out of their liquid and drain them on paper towels. You don't want too much excess liquid or they will make the frangipane soggy. Cut each pear half crosswise into thick slices. Do not separate the pear slices yet.

Slide a spatula or other flat utensil underneath the pear so you can transfer the entire half onto the tart. Press on the pear to fan the slices toward the top narrow end of the pear.

Slide the pear half onto the frangipane carefully - you can move the pear after you place it, but not much.

Repeat with the other pear halves until there are four to six halves on the tart, evenly spaced.

Place the tart on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for about 45-50 minutes, until the frangipane is puffed, golden brown, and firm to the touch. Cool the tart on a wire rack.

Before serving, dust confectioner's sugar over the tart.



Adapted from Dessert First

Bitter Chocolate Tart With Bailey's

I baked this for a dinner party with friends. They made polite impressed sounds, and then we eated it all up. Om nom.



Pastry

75g butter
75g caster sugar
75g ground almonds
125g plain flour
A pinch of salt
2 tbsp iced water, or more as needed

Start by sifting the flour and salt into a large bowl. I used wholemeal flour which is ridiculous to sift because you end up with beautifully sifted flour but a sieve full of hard bits - just tip the hard bits back into the bowl and stir it all around. No one will notice.

Take your room temperature butter (because you totally remembered to take it out of the fridge an hour ago, right?) and chop it up into little blocks. Add it to the bowl. Using your fingertips, massage the butter into the flour until the mix resembles breadcrumbs. The aim is to avoid melting the butter so don't use the palms of your hands, as they will be too hot.

Stir in the sugar and the ground almonds, then dig a little well in the centre of the mix and pour in some of the ice water. Take a knife and mix the whole thing together by cutting the mixture back and forth, rather than stirring it round and round. If it's not coming together, add a little more water, but don't over-mix or add too much water. It should look crumbly rather than being a smooth dough.

Gently knead the dough into a ball and cover it with plastic wrap. Put your dough into the fridge and leave it for 20 to 30 minutes. You can use this time to check your email or make a sandwich.

Take your dough and put it into the centre of your favourite tart tin. Gently push the dough down and outwards from the centre so it covers the entire tin base and up the sides. Using a 23 cm non-stick tart tin, this recipe made juuuust enough to cover the base and make a small (like, 1.5 cm high) edge. If you use a 20 cm tin, you could probably get more of an edge. Try and make it tidy and pretty-looking, and then put the tin and dough back in the fridge for another 20 to 30 minutes. Make another sandwich.

Pre-heat oven to 180 C and get your tart out of the fridge. Line the base of the tart case with baking paper and baking weights (for example, rice grains or dried beans – though you can also purchase fancy ceramic weights from home ware stores) and put it in the oven for 15 minutes. This is to make sure the tart keeps its shape and has a nice texture. Then remove the weights and baking paper before baking the tart for a further 5 to 10 minutes or until it looks golden and delicious. There. You have a tart case. Leave it in the tin and let it cool.


Filling

300ml thickened or whipping cream
200g dark chocolate (70 per cent cocoa), finely chopped
50g butter, chopped
2 or 3 tbsp Bailey's Irish Cream

When the tart case is almost or completely cool, you can start on the filling. Don't do this too early because you don't want to pour this into a hot tart case or to have it sitting around for ages either.

Start by pouring the cream into a saucepan and heat it until just before boiling point – so it 'trembles' but doesn't bubble.

Put the chopped chocolate into a heatproof bowl and pour in the heated cream. Let it sit for 1 minute and then mix with a spatula, working from the centre outwards.

Add the butter, and stir until the mixture is smooth. Last of all, add the Bailey's and stir again - you're almost done!

Pour the chocolate mixture into the tart case and leave in a level place to cool. Put it back into the fridge for at least 3 hours before serving.

This tart is rich enough to be eaten on its own but you might like to put some berries or cream on the side, or perhaps a few leaves of fresh mint.


Adapted from a recipe by Jill Dupleix

Lemon and Passionfruit Tarts

A little dessert experiment cooked up with friends, using a desserts cookbook and whatever ingredients we had to hand. We substituted a lot of ingredients - raw sugar for caster sugar, puff pastry for filo pastry - it worked out fine!



Lemon and Passionfruit Tarts with Berries

60g unsalted butter
90g (1/3 cup) caster sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons self-raising flour
60ml (1/4 cupe) lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 passionfruit, pulp removed
3 sheets filo pastry
125g (1 cup) fresh berries


Preheat oven to 180C.

Beat butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time. Add the flour, lemon juice, zest and passionfruit pulp, and beat until well combined.

Carefully line muffin tins with pastry. Pour in the lemon mixture and bake for 20-25 minutes or until set.

Serve topped with fresh berries and cream (we used hand-whipped cream, mixed with passionfruit pulp).

Makes 6.