Pear and pumpkin frangipane tart

I’ve been putting off making my first frangipane tart for ages, but today when I urgently needed to use up some pears AND pumpkin, I decided it was time to try! The result was magical – one of the best desserts I’ve made in ages.

Ingredients

3 pears

1 lemon

1 orange

1 tsp gingerbread spices

200g sugar or substitute

500ml water

150g ground almonds

100g pumpkin purée (see recipe Here)

35g gluten free flour (I used buckwheat today)

15g tapioca starch

1/2 tsp xanthan gum

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 eggs

60ml maple syrup

50g sugar or substitute

2 tbsp melted coconut oil

1 tsp almond extract

Pinch of salt

1 tbsp of a light coloured home made jam

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Put the rind and juice of the lemon and orange in a pot on a medium heat together with the spices, water, and sugar until the sugar has, dissolved.

Add the pears after you’ve peeled and cored them, and leave in the liquid for 10-15 mins until the pears are soft.

Take the pears out of the liquid and let it bubble away at a low heat for another 10 minutes or so until it has become syrupy. Strain the syrup so the rind is removed.

In the meantime, mix all the other ingredients in a mixing bowl and beat for a few minutes until we’ll combined.

Put the mix into an oiled tart mould and press down so it’s evenly distributed over the mould.

Cut the pears in half, press the pear halves into the tart mix and cut into horizontal slices to form a pattern like you can see from the photo.

Put the frangipane tart into the oven for 30 mins. Leave to cool down in the mould for half an hour and then smear a thin layer of the ham over the tart (not the pears).

Serve with the syrup and some whipped cream with cinnamon.