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Pear, Blackberry and Almond Frangipane

My Father-in-law popped over with 3 bags full of fruits and as you know I made the plums into the crumble loaf. The apples went into an apple pie or two and the pears took a while to ripen. Anyway today was the day I decided to make them into this yummy frangipane. I also had some blackberries in my freezer that I'd collected on my dog walks, so I dotted the top with these as well, the result is a beauty as you can see.

Pastry

300g plain flour
180g cold butter
1 egg
cold water
2 tbsp caster sugar
pinch of salt

Frangipane


175g unsalted butter, softened
175g caster sugar
3 large eggs 
75g self-raising flour
125g ground almonds
1/2 tsp of almond extract or ground cinnamon 
5 small firm pears, peeled, cored and sliced 
About 15-20 frozen blackberries
50g flaked Almonds

You will also need a 10 inch tart tin 


In a food processor blitz together the butter, salt, sugar and flour until you have a sandy consistency, next add an egg and pulse, finally add a little chilled water to bring the pastry together. Turn out onto a clean surface, gently knead the pastry into a disc shape, wrap and chill for about 30 minutes. 


Lightly dust the work surface with flour and roll the pastry out into a neat disc with a thickness of about 2mm. Carefully line the tart tin, being sure to push the pastry neatly into the corners and trimming off the excess pastry from the top. Prick the base of the tart shell several times with a fork. Screw up a sheet of baking parchment and use to line the inside of the pastry case.  Chill for 10 minutes in the freezer.


Preheat the oven to 190c/375f/Gas mark 5


Tip baking beans into the pastry case and blind bake on the middle shelf of the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes until pale golden. Remove the baking parchment and beans. Reduce the oven temperature to 170c/325f/Gas mark 3 and bake the pastry case for a further 5 minutes.


To make the filling mix together the butter, sugar, eggs, flour, ground almonds and cinnamon or almond extract until light and fluffy. Spoon the frangipane into the pastry case and spread level.  Arrange the pear slices evenly spaced,  around the tart. Now dot with the frozen blackberries, and scatter on the flaked almonds. 

Bake for 35-45 minutes or until golden, if the tart starts to colour too quickly, cover loosely with foil.

Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.