Pear praline tart

Pear praline tart is autumn in dessert form. Sweet, ripe pears are baked in a fragrant praline filling made with toasted hazelnuts and almonds, all nestled in a crisp buttery pastry case. It looks stunning and tastes even better. If you love pears and nuts, this tart is sure to become one of your seasonal favourites.

Ingredients for the shortcrust pastry:

• 200 g plain flour
• 120 g unsalted butter, cold and diced
• 60 g icing sugar
• pinch of salt
• 2–3 tablespoons cold water

Sift the flour into a bowl. Add the butter and cut it in with a knife until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the icing sugar, salt and cold water, then quickly knead into a smooth dough (or prepare it in a food processor). Shape into a disc, wrap in cling film and chill in the refrigerator for 30–60 minutes.

Grease a 24 cm tart tin with butter and dust lightly with flour, shaking out any excess.

Roll out the chilled pastry to about 3 mm thick and line the tart tin. Chill again for 30 minutes. Lightly dust the pastry with flour, line with baking paper and fill with ceramic baking beans (or dried beans or rice).

Preheat the oven to 220°C. Reduce the temperature to 190°C and blind bake the pastry for 15 minutes. Remove the baking paper and weights, reduce the temperature to 180°C and bake for a further 10 minutes, until lightly golden.

Ingredients for the praline filling:

• 40 g blanched hazelnuts
• 100 g blanched almonds
• 90 g unsalted butter
• 120 g caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon plain flour

All the ingredients should be at room temperature.

Toast the hazelnuts and almonds in a dry frying pan or in a 180°C oven, stirring occasionally, until lightly golden and fragrant. Leave to cool completely. Pulse the cooled nuts in a food processor until they resemble a fine meal. Avoid over-processing, or they will begin to release their oils and turn into a paste.

Beat the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and egg, mixing until combined. Fold in the ground nuts and sifted flour, mixing only until incorporated.

You’ll also need:

• 4 ripe but firm pears (such as Conference pears)*

Arrange the peeled pears, halved or quartered depending on their size, cut-side down on the baked pastry case. Spread the praline filling evenly over and around the pears.

Bake at 175°C for 40–50 minutes, until the filling is set and golden brown. It will rise during baking and may crack slightly – this is perfectly normal. Leave to cool before serving.

* The pears should be ripe but still firm—not hard, yet not overly soft or juicy. This gives the best texture after baking.

Enjoy!

Recipe inspiration: Delicious Magazine, adapted.