French Pear and Hazelnut Frangipane Tart

This wintry French Pear and Hazelnut Frangipane Tart makes for a dainty end to any celebratory meal. A buttery, sweet pastry crust is filled with a custardy, nutty cream and firm, sweet Bosc pears for an elegantly harmonious confection that is sure to please.

Jump to:

• ⭐ Why You’ll Love This Recipe 
• ❓ What is “frangipane?”
• 🍴Ingredients
• ⚒️ Equipment
• 📖 Step by Step Instructions
• 👩🏻‍🍳 Expert Tips
• 💭 Recipe FAQs
• More of My Favorite Recipes
• Pear Tart with Hazelnut Frangipane
• 💬 Comments

⭐ Why You’ll Love This Recipe 

This pear frangipane tart recipe is near and dear to my heart; I actually created it for my final project in Pastry School! It's made with my signature sweet pastry dough, the tart shell is akin to a nutty shortbread, with a tender, crumbly, melt-in-your mouth consistency. It is practically begging to be filled with any number of toppings; this particular combination of sweet-tart pears and hazelnut cream is an exceptionally worthy pairing.

Aside from the incredible flavor and texture this hazelnut pear tart has to offer, there are even more reasons to love it. First, this recipe is quite easy to pull off. You can make both the sweet pastry dough and the hazelnut frangipane ahead of time, making it simple to break into smaller tasks.

The tart recipe is also rather flexible. While I simply adore the combination of Bosc pears and hazelnuts, you can easily adjust based on your preferences. 

Swap in a firm, sweet-tart apple variety like Pink Ladies, or use a different nut to make the frangipane, and suddenly you have a brand new, entirely unique dessert. If you’re feeling extra daring, drizzle it with some homemade crème anglaise or chocolate ganache.

Finally, since this is a dessert best served lukewarm or at room temperature, it is the perfect make-ahead recipe for a winter dinner party. This pear frangipane tart can be made up to a day in advance and kept in the fridge, so your day-of duties are kept to a minimum.

❓ What is “frangipane?”

If you are not yet acquainted with frangipane, you are in for a big treat. Frangipane is a velvety nut cream, enhanced with just a hint of vanilla. The most widely recognized use of this rich, textural cream is in almond croissants: it acts as both the filling and topping of the tasty French pastries.

Traditionally, frangipane is made from ground almonds, butter, eggs, sugar, and a small amount of unbleached all-purpose flour, but in this case I’m switching things up and opting for buttery hazelnuts instead. Why, you ask? Because pears and hazelnuts are a match made in heaven.

🍴Ingredients

This delightful French pear tart is made from rather humble ingredients that are more than the sum of their individual parts. Here are a few notes to consider:

• Ground Hazelnuts - You'll likely find Bob's Red Mill ground hazelnut flour in the baking aisle of your local grocery store. Rather than scouring stores for hazelnut flour, you can certainly make your own. Simply toast whole, raw hazelnuts on a baking sheet at 350F for about 7-10 minutes or until fragrant. Pulse hazelnuts in a food processor fitted with the blade attachment until you have a fine powder, stopping prior to turning it into nut butter.
• Almond Flour - Sometimes sold as “almond meal,” this ingredient adds flavor and texture to my sweet pastry dough. If you would prefer to limit your ingredient purchases, feel free to use extra ground hazelnuts in its place.
• Bread Flour - Bread flour has a higher protein content than AP flour, which helps to give this tart shell a bit of extra stability. You can substitute an equal amount of AP flour if needed.
• Demerara Sugar - ​​This is a type of cane sugar with a fairly large grain and a pale amber color. It is a fantastic finishing sugar with a pleasant toffee flavor. The added crunch and caramelized flavor helps to bring this tart up a notch! You may substitute similarly shaped turbinado sugar (a.k.a. Sugar in the Raw). I use demerara sugar as a key ingredient for my Pear Brandy Sour cocktail - another favorite of mine!
• Pears - There are many varieties of pears available, but you want to reach for one that is firm and will hold its shape while baking. For this reason, I prefer the Bosc variety, which is widely available from September through April.

⚒️ Equipment

There are a few pieces of equipment that are essential for this recipe. Here’s what I recommend you invest in:

• Tart Pan - While you can technically use a variety of pans in place of a tart pan, you won’t get the gorgeous fluted edges that I associate with the perfect tart with a removable bottom. Feel free to opt for either a round or rectangular variety, or choose individual tart pans instead to make a sweet potato tart, mini strawberry tarts & a pancetta gruyere tart!
• Food Processor - These kitchen powerhouses are great at shredding, blending, dicing, chopping, mixing, grating, and countless other tasks (like cutting butter into flour for pie dough!). They’re also indispensable for making homemade nut flours.
• Electric Mixer - I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: do your arms a favor and invest in an electric mixer. If at all possible, I suggest a stand mixer (or hybrid hand/stand mixer) so you can multitask.
• Pie Weights - You simply cannot blind bake a pastry shell without pie weights. They don’t have to be fancy, though! Dried beans or dried rice will do just fine. Note that dried beans/rice can be used repeatedly for pie weights, but should not be eaten after being used as such.

📖 Step by Step Instructions

Even though this French Pear and Hazelnut Frangipane Tart looks fancy, it is actually quite manageable for any home cook. Here is how it’s done:

Make Hazelnut Frangipane Filling

Combine the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and cream for 3 minutes until pale and fluffy. 

Add the hazelnut or almond flour in three parts while mixing, alternating with each egg until the ingredients are incorporated evenly. 

Add the flour and vanilla extract - mixing to combine. Transfer to a container and refrigerate until ready to use. Frangipane can be refrigerated for up to a week or frozen for up to a month in advance.

Make Sweet Tart Dough

In a stand mixer using a paddle attachment, start by mixing sugar, butter, vanilla paste, salt, almond, and all-purpose flour, mixing until combined. Take a moment to scrape the mixing bowl and ensure that the butter mixture is uniform.

Add room temperature eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl between additions.

Add bread flour, making sure to not overmix. Wrap dough tightly in plastic wrap – then place in the fridge to chill before using for at least one hour.

NOTE: I tend to make my tart dough ahead of time so I throw it in the fridge until the next day. If using this method, remove your dough from the fridge 30 minutes before you plan to roll it out – you’ll find that it will be MUCH easier to work with!

Once your dough is rolled to the desired thickness, press gently into the bottom of your buttered tart pan, poking the bottom of the tart LIBERALLY with a fork, and place in the freezer to chill for 20-30 minutes. 

Blind Bake Tart Shell

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line the shell with aluminum foil or parchment paper before adding pie weights. Bake for about 15 minutes until light golden brown before pulling from the oven. After cooling for 5-10 minutes, remove the foil and pie weights.

Assemble & Bake

Fill the tart shell to the halfway point with your frangipane and arrange pear slices on top. Sprinkle demerara sugar on top before placing back into the preheated oven for another 30-40 minutes. 

You’re looking for the frangipane to be completely set before removing it from the oven and letting it cool. If the edges of the tart are browning too quickly, you can lightly cover them with a ring of foil.

Transfer the tart to a rack to cool until lukewarm or room temperature before removing the sides of the tart pan. To serve, I like sprinkling powdered sugar over the top!

Looking to create delicious and homemade garnishes to elevate your creations? Try adding Sugared Flowers, Candied Rose Petals, Dried Orange Slices or Sugared berries!

👩🏻‍🍳 Expert Tips

• Don’t overprocess your nuts. Make sure not to grind them for too long, or your hazelnut flour could become nut butter instead! If this happens, don’t toss the hazelnut butter even though it won’t work in the frangipane; add some cacao powder or melted chocolate for a homemade nutella that’ll bring the house down. Happy accident? I think so. Now, try again!
• Work ahead. Both the sweet pastry dough and the frangipane are excellent candidates for making ahead of time. They will both last in the fridge for up to a week, or in the freezer for up to 2 months. You can also prep the tart shell in the tart pan and freeze it for an even easier assembly the next day.
• Freeze your tart shell. I know it sounds a bit fussy - chilling the dough after making it, and then again after pressing it into the tin - but the added time is non-negotiable. If you fail to properly freeze the tart shell, it is likely to shrink during baking.
• If the edges of the tart are browning too quickly, you can lightly cover them with a ring of foil - just be sure to cook the filling all the way through.

Use my step-by-step guide to for more tips and tricks on making homemade tarts!

💭 Recipe FAQs

More of My Favorite Recipes

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