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December is devoted to relaxation, reflection and celebration. It’s also for entertaining. From open houses and office parties to family gatherings and New Year’s Eve, the month can be a blur of festive events, most of which involve eating.
If you’ve worn out the same old traditional recipes you’ve been trotting out each year, Anand Saha of Mozart’s Bakery & Piano Cafe suggests his recipe for a French pear and almond franzipan tart. The lightly sweet tart will work well as a dessert or as a decadent brunch option. (Tip: Saha recommends canned pears if you can’t find acceptable fresh ones.) This recipe will make one nine-inch tart.
French pear and almond franzipan tart
Pie crust
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated white sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Sift flour and salt together and set aside. Mix butter and sugar by hand until creamy. Slowly add egg. Then add flour and salt and mix for a minute. Spoon evenly into a greased nine-inch pie pan.
Franzipan filling
6 tablespoons butter, room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup blanched almonds, ground
2 teaspoons flour
1 large egg plus one egg white
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons lemon juice
3 whole pears, peeled, sliced and then diced
Mix the butter and sugar. Then add the almonds, flour, egg, vanilla extract and lemon juice. Mix by hand until you’ve created a thick, dense cream. Spoon over pie crust. Top with diced pears. (Tip: The cream should be sufficiently dense so that the pears sink only halfway into the filling during cooking. Slowly add flour to achieve this density, if necessary.) Bake at 325 for about 40 minutes or until golden. Set aside to cool. Brush with apricot glaze.
Apricot glaze
1 can of apricots in syrup
1 cup water
2 tablespoons sugar
Boil apricots, syrup, water and sugar. Reduce by two-thirds. Strain.
