Pear Frangipane Tart

October 25, 2026

Jill Melton

I was introduced to this French tart that uses a frangipane or almond cream, in my twenties while working at a restaurant outside of Dayton, Ohio. I was instantly hooked. While many recipes call for poaching the pear halves in a flavorful liquid, when your pears are ripe, it’s really not necessary. Using ripe pears and skipping this step makes this tart much easier. You can use almonds that you grind in the food processor or almond flour from a bag, which will be much finer ground. We’ve used almonds we ground in this recipe. Jill Melton

Ingredients

Pastry

2 cups flour

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon lemon zest

11 tablespoons cold butter

Pear Frangipane

1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup ground almonds

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 ripe pears, peeled, halved and seeds removed. Sliced horizontally

Preparation

1.To prepare pastry, combine flour, sugar, salt and lemon zest in a food processor. Pulse. Add cold better in small pieces and pulse until mixture is combined and resembles coarse meal. Add 3 tablespoons water and pulse until mixture comes together in a ball. Wrap and chill 30 minutes. Roll dough into a 14-inch circle and place in 12-inch tart pan with a removable bottom (or a 10-inch deep dish pie plate).

2. Preheat oven to 375F. Line pastry with parchment paper and fill with pie weights or dried beans and bake 20 minutes. Remove weights and paper and bake another 10 minutes. Remove and cool.

3. To prepare Frangipane, Place butter in a mixer bowl and beat. Add sugar and ground almonds, beat well. Add eggs beating well after each addition. Add vanilla.

4. Spread frangipane into baked tart shell. Fan out each pear half and nestle into frangipane (almond cream). Bakeat 375F for 30 minutes or until frangipane is set. Cool. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, if desired. Serve with whipped cream.