Pear Frangipane Tart Recipe
This pear frangipane tart is filled with delicious almond filling and fragrant poached pears, then topped with crunchy almonds, what’s not to love? It will make you feel like a total pro and the results will blow you away! This recipe uses a pre-made puff pastry for the shell, saving you time and adding pleasant crispiness to each bite.
If you love pears as much as I do, you’ll also appreciate this apple and pear tart, my poached pears and nutella pastries, and these delicious amaretto poached pears.
French Tart
This French tart was inspired by our local French Boulangerie where they sell similar tarts. One day I decided that I was just going to make one myself instead of buying one there.
Surprisingly, the one I made at home was much better than the one they had, so now I have to share the recipe for this French tart with you guys!
This tart has two distinct parts to it: the pastry’s tart crust (I’m totally taking a shortcut here), and the almond filling (one of two best parts about this recipe).
Tart Crust
The tart crust for this recipe is very simple #shortcut. It’s a sheet of puff pastry pressed into an 8″ tart pan, then baked until it’s golden brown. For this recipe, you can use store-bought puff pastry for the tart crust…or make your own.
For the best flavor possible, I highly recommend you give my homemade puff pastry recipe a try. It’s surprisingly simple to make!
However, if you are on a time crunch, simply swap in some store-bought puff pastry—that’s how I made the pear frangipane’s tart crust pictured here!
Pear Frangipane Filling
Frangipane filling is often confused with almond paste, but it is actually different. Frangipane has the addition of eggs, butter, and flour to the typical almond paste ingredients of almonds and sugar.
Of course, in a pear frangipane filling, there is also the addition of one of my favorite fruits: pear!
This tart is made with my amazingly delicious Amaretto Poached Pears & the French Almond Creme. As you can imagine it’s incredibly flavorful.
Tips for Making Pear Frangipane
- This pear frangipane recipe is a two-day process. You will need to make the amaretto poached pears the day before you assemble the rest of the tart.
- No tart pan? No problem! You can use any type of round spring pan that has a removable bottom (like this one).
- Use Bosc pears for the best flavor. You can also use Bartlett pears or another variety, but Bosc works best in my opinion.
- Do not overwork the puff pastry. If you do, you run the risk of the tart shell shrinking.
- Similar to a pie crust, the pastry can cool in or out of the pan. You may find it easier to let it cool to room temperature before removing it.
- Remove any chunks of fruit for the glaze. This tart is topped with an apricot jam glaze. If your jam has chunks of fruit in it, pass it through a sieve before using it to apply to the top of the tart.
How to Make a Pear Frangipane Tart
Overview
For detailed recipe instructions, see the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
Ingredients
To make two 8″ pear frangipane tarts you will need:
- Puff Pastry Dough (storebought is fine also)
- Amaretto Poached Pears Ingredients (1 recipe)
- French Almond Cream Ingredients:
How to make the tart:
- A day before, start the Amaretto Poached pears.
- On the day you want to make the tart, make the French Almond Cream Filling. Refrigerate until ready to use.
- With a tart ring, cut out the circle from the puff pastry sheet. For 2 tarts, make this with both sheets of puff pastry. Roll the sheets out to make a circle 2″ bigger than the tart pan. Poke it with a fork to prevent it from puffing.
- Press the puff pastry into the mold, and trim the edges. Freeze to set while you preheat the oven.
- Remove the tart from the freezer and bake. Do not over-bake!
- Pull out of the oven and allow it to cool.
- Then, fill each tart with 1/2 of the Almond Cream Mixture. Place the tarts back in the freezer while you work on your pears.
- Remove pears from the poaching liquid and slice them.
- Then, remove the tarts from the freezer and place pears on top of the Almond Cream mixture.
- Sprinkle the top of the pear frangipane tart with slivered almonds.
- Cover the tart with foil and bake. Then remove the foil and bake to allow the top to brown
- Once the tart is baked, allow it to cool completely.
- Then add the glaze to the top.
- Enjoy!
Pear Frangipane Tart Storage
Refrigerate the tart if you aren’t eating right away. In the fridge, it should last 2-3 days.
This pear frangipane tart will freeze well. Just make sure to wrap it so it doesn’t get freezer burn.
If you have leftover amaretto pear, save them. You can serve them over vanilla ice cream.
Scroll to the bottom for the full recipe with precise ingredient amounts.
More Pastry Recipes to Try:
Pear Frangipane Tart Recipe
Pear Frangipane Tart Recipe - flaky puff pastry base with Almond Cream & Amaretto Poached Pears.
Ingredients
Amaretto Poached Pears Ingredients
- 6-7 Pears peeled and cored (Bosc variety works best)
- 3 cups water
- 1 cup granulated sugar white or brown
- 2-3 TBSP lemon juice
- 1 cup Amaretto liqueur or Grand Marnier, or Apricot/Peach Liqueur
- 2 TBSP vanilla extract
- 1 star anise optional
- 1 cinnamon quill optional
French Almond Cream Ingredients:
- 125 g unsalted butter room temperature
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs . room temperature,
- 3/4 cup ground almonds
- 2 TBSP all-purpose flour
- 1 TBSP vanilla extract
Also
- 2-3 TBSP Apricot Jam
- 3-4 TBSP almond slices
Instructions
How to make Almond Cream and Pear Tart:
-
The day you want to make the tart, make the French Almond Cream Filling. Click HERE for recipe & instructions. Refrigerate until ready to use.
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With the tart ring, cut out the circle from the puff pastry sheet. For 2 tarts, make this with both sheets of puff pastry.
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On a well-floured work surface, roll it out to make the circle 2 inches bigger than you started with. Poke it with a fork all around, to prevent it from puffing up in the oven. Transfer the rolled out puff pastry into the tart mold, press it against the form and trim the edges like shown below. Place in freezer for about 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 350F, with the rack in the middle.
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Remove the tart from the freezer and bake until the tart is slightly golden about 15-20 minutes. Do not over-bake as it will still take on more color when it’s baked with the filling. Once out of the oven, allow it to completely cool. Fill each tart with 1/2 of the Almond Cream Mixture. Place in the freezer for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, work on your pears.
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Remove pears from the poaching liquid and slice them any way you would like. Get the tart from the freezer and arrange about 2-3 cut up pears on top of the Almond Cream mixture.
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Sprinkle with almonds. Spray a piece of foil with non stick spray and gently cover the tart with it, sprayed side touching the tart.
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Put back in the oven and bake until the almond mixture is well risen all the way in the middle, about 45 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for another 10 minutes allowing the top to brown up slightly.
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Once the tart is baked allow it to completely cool on the rack. To finish it off with the glaze, take 2-3 tablespoons of apricot jam, heat it until liquid then apply it generously to the top of the tart with a brush. If your jam has chunks of fruit in it, pass it through a sieve before using it to apply to the top of the tart.
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Marina | Let the Baking Begin
Hi Marina, I’m excited to try this recipe for my friends party tomorrow. I just wanted to point out that there is a discrepancy in the ingredients for the amaretto poached pears. On this page for the tart it says it requires 2 tablespoons of vanilla but when you tap on the link for the actual poached pear recipe it asks for 5 tablespoons of vanilla. I personally went with the 5 tablespoons. But if that is incorrect please update your page to reflect the same amount on both sites? Thanks!
Hi Claudine!
Thank you for catching that! I have corrected it in the card, although to be honest, anywhere between 2-5 tablespoons wouldn’t ruin the recipe just give you more or less of the vanilla flavor.
Marina, is this tart tastier served cold or warm?
If I make it in advance- should i serve cold or room temp? TIA
Hi Lola,
I serve it at room temperature. But you can try it both ways and decide for yourself 🙂
Followed the puff pastry instructions and it did not work. It puffed up and shrank away from the pan and is now just a puffy disc. I docked it, put in freezer, etc. followed all the steps.
Hi Heather,
Puff pastry has a tendency to shrink when the gluten in the dough wasn’t given a chance to relax back after being rolled. To prevent this in the future, refrigerate the dough in the tart mold after rolling it for about 20 minutes to 30 minutes to give the dough a chance to relax the gluten strands before baking.
Hope this helps!
So sweet, so delicious, I love it, Thank you so much!
Hi Marina! I am just stopping by to wish you a happy birthday! May the Lord give you the desires of your heart! people like you deserve the best in life. Thank you for your hard word and for your contribution to make this a better word! Be blesed
Amazing Job!! Keep up the good work.
You’ve put in the time & fabulous ingredients for your gorgeous tart but using a Pepperidge Farm pastry?? Noooo! Whole Foods & Trader Joe’s both carry an all butter puff pastry. I’m looking forward to making this and wouldn’t dream of using Pepperidge Farm. It’s like having a perfectly decadent chocolate mousse and ruining it by putting Cool Whip on top!! Can’t wait to make this!
Hi Kathy, Thank you for your suggestion, I’ll look for it in those stores. I’ve never seen any different kind than Pepperidge farm that’s why I used it 🙂
The thing with puff pastry at trade Joe’s is they dont always have it. I think it might be a seasonal item. I bought it there before and it’s really good but you cant always count on finding it.
This looks so delicious. I will be making it tomorrow. I will be using Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry and would like to know if it would be a good idea to use 2 sheets (on top of each other) for a thicker crust? Also what size tart pan do you use?
I used an 8 inch round tart pan. You can use two sheets per one tart, but I think it would be too much. If you do end up using it, do let me know how you liked it 🙂
Am I able to make this without the tart pan? Ive been to 2 stores already and cant find one!
You don’t need a tart pan, just use any pan you have. If you have any type of round cake pan/spring form, that will work too. Just make sure it has a removable bottom. Here are some links that you can order it on Amazon.
Attmu 8 Inches Non-Stick Removable Loose Bottom Quiche Tart Pan (2 Pack), Tart Pie Pan, Round Tart Quiche Pan with Removable Base
Kitchencraft Masterclass Non-stick Fluted Rectangular Tart Tin/quiche Pan With
Wilton Extra Long Non-Stick Tart and Quiche Pan, 14 x 4.5-Inch
I just made this yesterday. It was wonderful……a really lovely dessert to make for company. I made my own puff pastry, as well. I had some leftover pears….which I will serve over vanilla ice cream!
If you do not want people to print your recipes you should not be on this site. I tried to print this recipe and it was 25 pages lone. Please create a “print” page 1 or 2 pages long.
I hope your day here on out is better than what it was when you were writing the comment.
The print version is added to the recipe.
This is a nice presentation it look good and fancy
This tart is so beautiful, thanks for the recipe, I cant wait to try. I was wondering, could I freeze it?
I think it would freeze beautifully. Just wrap it well, so it doesn’t get freezer burn.
What herb did you use to garnish this dessert?
I believe that was thyme.
This recipe looks delicious. Just a couple of questions. The pear recipe says (1 recipe). Does thst one recipe for both pies? Also, if I just wanted to make the pears, do you serve that cold or is there a way to warm it up again to be served warm?
Hi Hilary,
yes one recipe of poached pears is enough for both tarts.
If you wanted to serve it warm, I would probably remove pears, bring the liquid to a boil, then submerge the pears and let them warm through. Do not reboil, because that will make the pears softer than you want them to be.
PS: wouldn’t the tart be more protected for baking if left in the tart pan? Knowing me I would probably have an accident if I were to remove it from the pan before completing the baking.
It seems that in some pictures the tart is in the tart pan and in others it is not. huh??
the tart was removed from the mould after baking and put into a dish for serving 🙂
the tart was removed from the mould after baking and put into a dish for serving 🙂
Well, yes that’s easy to see. But, in the split picture as the pears are sliced the view on the left frame prior to the pears being arranged on the filling it looks like the tart is not in the metal pan. Then later it is back in the pan. Confusing.
Once the tart shell is baked, it needs to cool completely and that can be done in or out of the mold. Because it is not important how you cool it, I did not specify this aspect in the directions. The rest of the time it can be baked with or without the tart mold also, it does need something flat underneath while baking though – so if not using the tart pan, a cookie sheet will also work. Sorry for making it confusing with the way the pictures are taken.
That’s ok. I was just passing this luscious recipe on to a friend who has a love affair with pears and wanted to be sure just how it was prepared, Thanks for the further explanation. yum
Hello!
I was wondering if this tart could be frozen, either before or after baking? do you think it would hold? Id like to make two but I definatley cant eat two!
Hi Lauren,
I haven’t tried freezing it myself, but I think freezing the already prepared tart (well wrapped) should work.
Hi, I love this recipe I have a pear tree at my house so I can´t wait for them to be ready!!! Do you have an apple tart? or can I use this same recipe with apples???
Hi! I had a wonderful pear and blueberry tart in Vermont. Basically there were a few layers of blueberry puree in a tart. Is it possible to incorporate some blueberries like that in this tart, and what amount would you recommend and what would you recommend for reductions in the ingredients, if any? Thanks so much! I can’t wait to try this!
Hello ! I’m amaized by your peach tart!
At this moment , I bake this! And wondering why my puff pastry is’nt like yours? I was doing all the steps and my pastry can not stay at walls of a baking bowl. I got one sircle of a pastry with no walls of it 🙁 If you understand me, my english is not so good 😀 ..What can i do? And when I bake it for 45 minutes is it on same degrees? Thank you so much
Tamara
Hi Tamara,
Don’t worry about your English, I understood you perfectly 🙂 if you speak Russian, you can write your comments in Russian as I read and speak Russian as well 🙂
If you see, on my pictures my tart shrank a little bit too. Puff pastry usually shrinks from being overworked. So if you stretched yours a lot, then it would need longer than 10 minutes of rest to not shrink in the oven. But you can go ahead and fill and bake it as is, it might overflow a little, but not too much.
And yes, you bake it at the same temperature.
This tart looks so good! I always wanted to make one. Btw, on the Facebook widget you have on your blog I see most of my relatives and some friends. I wander if I know you too?
Thanks Valya!
If you’re logged into your facebook account, the widget detects that and then surveys your friends list, and if any of those friends have liked my facebook page, it will show up on this widget 🙂
What do you mean “I wonder if I know you too”? You mean in real life?
This pear tart looks amazing Marina! It will make a very impressive dessert for the coming holidays! It does look better that the ones at the bakery! Beautiful pictures, pinned !
Thanks Lyubomira, appreciate your kind comment much!
I was planning to make your poached pears in amaretto this weekend and now you posted this tart so I will definitely be making it. I just tried a almond and pear tart from trader joes and it was delicious but this looks 10 times better. I was just wondering if I can make it the day before I plan to serve it or will it get soggy?
Yes, you can make it even several days ahead. I made this tart on Saturday and didn’t get to eat it until Tuesday the following week and it still tasted great, and my puff pastry was still crunchy on the bottom. Although, I did use the puff pastry from Cash & Carry, which is a bit thicker than the Peppridge Farm one, so that might’ve made a slight difference in the retainment of crunch as well.
This looks absolutely delicious. If I’m making it 1-2 days in advance, should I put it in the fridge or leave it at room temperature?
I would probably refrigerate it just to preserve freshness.