Cakes and Pastries Recipes - Bordelaise Tart Recipe

Ingredients

Serves 6

• 16 oz pie crust dough (refer recipe)

• 3/4 oz butter

• 1 egg yolk

• 3 1/2 oz almond powder

• 8 1/2 oz pastry cream (refer recipe)

• 3 1/4 lb (1.5kg) pears

• 1 oz shaved almonds

• 5 1/2 oz apricot jam

• 1 tbsp pear schnapps

---

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 410°F/210°C.

2. Roll out the dough until it is about 1/8 inch (3 mm) thick. Line a greased tart pan with it. Prick the  base with a fork and to prevent it from rising and cover it with dried beans. Baste the edges with beaten egg yolk. Bake blind for 8 min.

3. Mix the almond powder into the pastry cream. Pour this mixture into the tart crust until 2/3 full, and smooth it out.

4. Remove the stems from the pears and peel and halve them, removing the cores. Slice in a fan-like fashion. Arrange around the tart base. rounded sides up and flat sides down, pressing them down slightly into the cream. Bake for 25 min.

5. Remove the tart from the oven. Cool for 10 - 15 min.

6. Meanwhile, dry roast the almonds in a pan, making sure they do not  brown too much.

7. Turn out the tart on a cooling rack. Heat the apricot jam and schnapps mixture and use it to coat the tart surface with a pastry brush. Sprinkle with almonds.