To be served as a dessert or offered for tea time, pear tartlets with almond cream will leave no taste buds indifferent. The combination of flaky puff pastry, melting pears, and rich almond cream is simply irresistible! Easy to reproduce at home, it’s a dessert within everyone’s reach.
The refined and indulgent dessert recipe to share right away
This pear tartlet with almond cream doesn’t have much that is special about it, and yet it is truly exceptional! It has everything our palates love: a well-buttered, crispy puff pastry, a half-pear that is tender, and a generous filling of almond cream. We finish with a few slivered almonds for a crunchy touch — it’s simply delicious. To be served slightly warm for dessert or at tea time, these pear tartlets with almond cream will delight both young and old gourmands around the table.
You would be advised to make the puff pastry from scratch, but we know it’s a pastry technique a bit intricate, especially if you are new to cooking. So you can obviously use a ready-made puff pastry, preferably all-butter for a truly flaky and indulgent result! If your pears are still too firm, you can poach them quickly by plunging them for about ten minutes into simmering water with a little sugar. Drain them and let them cool completely. Regarding the almond cream, opt for vanilla extract for more softness or for amber rum for a more original tasting.
You will only need to follow the rest of the instructions to present an elegant and original dessert.
List of ingredients for 6 generous tartlets
– 1 sheet of all-butter puff pastry
– 3 ripe yet firm pears
– 1 lemon
– 80 g unsalted butter, softened
– 80 g sugar
– 80 g almond meal
– 1 egg
– 1 teaspoon vanilla or amber rum
– 1 level tablespoon of flour or cornstarch
The simple steps for a pear tartlet with almond cream
1. Peel the pears, cut them in half, then remove the cores. Lightly drizzle them with lemon juice to prevent oxidation.
2. Make shallow cuts in each pear half into thin slices lengthwise, without cutting all the way through, so that they open slightly during baking (as in the video).
3. In a bowl, beat the softened butter with the sugar until creamy. Add the egg and mix, then the almond meal, the flour, and the vanilla or the rum.
4. Mix until the almond cream is smooth and homogeneous. Fill the pear halves with the cream (in the hollow).
5. Unroll the puff pastry, then place the filled pear halves, bulging side up, then cut the pastry around the pears, leaving a 2 to 3 cm border around the pear. Cut small leaves on top for an even more lifelike visual effect.
6. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake 20 to 25 minutes at 180°C.
7. Remove from the oven and let cool on a rack.
The best tips to enhance this pear tartlet with almond cream recipe
While this version is already incredibly indulgent, you can make it even more irresistible by serving it with a small homemade vanilla custard on the side… it’s excellent! By the way, consider brushing your pears with a little warm apricot glaze as soon as they come out of the oven to make them shine. You will see, it’s a trick that works for many pastry preparations and it really changes everything! Moreover, the slivered almonds will stay nicely on the tartlet like this.
This elegant dessert lends itself as much to grand occasions as to simpler moments and is sure to impress the palates of everyone at the table! Your turn to cook pear tartlets with almond cream that are truly delicious.
