Special thanks to The Modern Domestic for breaking down the recipe on their blog, I have credited them along with Julia Child for words below. Originally taken from Julia Child’s Mastering The Art of French Cooking
RECIPE
55 mins (I’d give yourself a little more time though ;)
Frangipane (almond custard filling):
1/2 cup almonds
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
3/4 cups sugar
1/3 cup flour
1 cup whole milk
3 tbs butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Toast almonds until brown (around 8-11 minutes), then chop up (very small, nearly powder like) in food processor. Whisk egg and egg yolk in a large mixing bowl until combined. Gradually add sugar and beat until mixture is pale yellow – about 3 minutes. Beat in the flour. Heat milk on the stove over moderate heat until it reaches the boiling point. Beat a small amount of milk into the egg mixture, to temper the eggs. Then pour in the rest of the milk and whisk vigorously. Pour milk mixture into a sauce pan and heat over moderate heat. Stir slowly, until mixture begins to thicken and coagulate into a stiff paste. Beat vigorously over low heat for 2-3 minutes to cook the flour. Off the heat add the butter, vanilla and almond extracts, and almonds. Let cool. To prevent a skin from forming, cover custard with buttered parchment paper.
Sugar Cookie Crust
1 1/3 cups flour
7 tbs sugar
1/8 tsp baking powder
5 tbs butter, chilled
2 tbs shortening, chilled
1 egg beaten with 1 tsp water
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Whisk together flour, sugar, and baking powder. With a pastry cutter, fork, or in a food processor, cut the butter and shortening into the flour mixture, until it resembles small oatmeal flakes. Blend in the egg and vanilla, until the dough forms a ball. Flatten into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 1 hour, or until firm. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. On a well floured work surface, roll dough until 1/8 inch thick. Transfer dough to a false-bottomed tart pan, pressing the dough into the corners of the pan with your fingers. Trim excess dough with a knife or kitchen shears, leaving a 1/2 inch overhang. Fold overhang over and press into the edges of the tart. Line the tart with buttered foil, and place uncooked rice, dried beans, or pie weights on top of foil. Bake for 8-9 minutes, until the pastry is set. Remove tart from oven, remove foil and prick the bottom of the tart with a fork. Return tart to oven and bake for 7-10 minutes more, until the shell is very lightly browned. Let cool on a rack until completely cool.
Pears
2 cups red wine
2 tbs lemon juice
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
4 ripe, firm pears
1/4 cup red currant jelly (or other preserve – I used raspberry)
Bring wine, lemon juice, sugar and cinnamon to a boil in a saucepan over moderate heat. Meanwhile, peel, halve, stem and core pears. When syrup is boiling, drop in pears and let simmer for 8-10 minutes, until pears are tender when pierced with a knife. Let pears cool in syrup for 20 minutes, then drain on a rack. Rapidly boil down the syrup to the thread stage (230 degrees). Add jelly or preserves to the syrup and simmer until jelly has dissolved and syrup coats the back of a spoon with a light glaze.
Assemble Tart
Paint the inside of the tart shell with the pear and jelly syrup. Fill shell with the frangipane, smoothing with a spatula. Cut pears into crosswise or lengthwise slices and arrange them over the custard. Lightly glaze pears with some of the remaining jelly using a pastry brush. Serve chilled or at room temperature.
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