Tarte Bourdaloue To Say Thank You
Big Bossman has been keeping me busy this past week. I had no time to sit down and write a little post for you my friends. I read the schedule for the weeks ahead and it doesn’t look any prettier, my head is spinning already. If anyone wants to adopt me – now would be a good time. I cost a lot in groceries, wine and Champagne but beside that i’m easy to get along with. I’ll even do the dishes and play with your dogs.
Look how nice i am – i baked this tartelette for my fellow expat tartelette. If you haven’t visited her blog yet you’ve been missing out on some amazing goodies, you should go check her out right away. Tartelette is a pastry chef, a talented photographer, a pioneer food blogger and a certified foot massage practitioner (okay i’m only kidding on that last one but she would probably do good after kneading so much dough). She was so kind to give me an award on her blog a few days ago so in return for her kindness i decided to bake a tartelette Bourdaloue just for her – but i’ll share the recipe with all of you. Deal? The blog award she gave me and other fellows started with the letter E but i can’t remember what it was exactly… exciting? entertaining? ennoying? (…this is a test to see if my spell-checker is paying attention ;-). Oh, and i ate the tart for her as well – since those things don’t travel too well via Fedex, you know. But it was good! haha.
This is a traditional tart from France and one of my all-time favorite. With the almond cream on the bottom and the flan-like custard on top, the tart remains very moist, and with the pears partially immersed in the custard, it is very pretty too. You can make a day in advance and store it in the refrigerator, it taste even better the next day. This recipe is from Francois Payard, the famed French baker in New York city. I twisted the proportions and the methods a little to keep it manageable but the taste stays true to the original. It is a bit of work but… oh so worth it!
Thank you Tartelette. Enjoy the tart… at least the vision of it. ha!
Tarte Bourdaloue
(serves 6 or 8)
For the sweet tart dough (enough for two 9 1/2 inch tarts):
-
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
-
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
-
Pinch of salt
-
9 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
-
1 large egg
For the almond cream:
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1 cup slivered almonds
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
For the tart:
- 3/4 cup almond crean
- One 9-1/2 inch tart shell made from sweet tart dough, unbaked
- 1 large egg
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 6 poached or canned pear halves
For the sweet tart dough:
- Sift together the confectioners’ sugar, flour and salt into a bowl.
- Place the butter into a food processor and process until smooth.
- Scatter the flour mixture over the butter, add the egg and process just until the dough forms a mass; do not overmix.
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least for an hour.
- When ready, line a greased 9 1/2 inch tart pan with half the dough. Keep the rest for another use.
For the almond cream:
- Place the sugar and the slivered almonds in the bowl of a food processor and process until finely ground. About 2 minutes.
- Add the butter and process until combined.
- Add the eggs and the almond extract if using and process until smooth. About 1 minute.
- Add the flour and process until combined. Reserve. The extra almond cream can be frozen until another use.
For the tart:
- Preheat the oven to 325’F.
- Scrape 3/4 cup of almond cream into the tart shell and spread it into an even layer. Bake for 14 minutes, until the almond layer is puffed but not set. Cool.
- Whisk together the eggs and sugar in a medium bowl, about 3 minutes. Whisk in the cream and vanilla extract.
- Arrange the pear halves, cut side down and with the stem ends toward the center, on the almond layer. Pour the custard mixture over the pears.
- Bake for 50 minutes, until the custard is set and the pastry is golden brown.
- Cool the tart completely on a wire rack.
Tags: Tart