Poached Pear & Frangipane Tart For The Win!

I would consider a tart a pie so for this weekly pie post I went with a poached pear & frangipane tart. I also wanted to poach the pears in cardamom and saffron because those are some of my favorite flavors right not. I think they will work well with the pears. This was also my first time making frangipane so I was up for the challenge. It was a lot easier than I expected.  I love how the pears turned a beautiful yellow color and they smell wonderful. This is a perfect autumn tart. You could also bake this tart in a 9 inch tart pan, I used 6 mini tart pans. I think they turned out great.

Poached Pear & Frangipane Tart

Here's what you will need

Pastry Crust

1 1/2 Cups of Flour
1/2 Cup of Powdered Sugar
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1 egg
1 Stick of Butter ( cold and in tiny pieces)

Cardamom & Saffron Poached Pears

• 3 - 4 Pears
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 1/2 Cups of Water
• Few pinches of Saffron
• 8 Cardamom pods (crushed)

Frangipane Filling

• 3/4 Cup of Ground almond (or Almond meal)
• 6 Tablespoons of Room Temperature Butter
• 2/3 Cup of Granulated Sugar
• 1 Large Egg + 1 Egg White
• 2 Teaspoons of Flour
• 1 Teaspoon of Cornstarch
• 1 Teaspoon of Vanilla Extract
• 2 Teaspoons of Almond Extract

For the pears: Combine the water, sugar, cardamom and saffron strands in a saucepan large enough to hold all the pears and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat.

Crush these cardamom pods

add the saffron and bring to a small boil

Meanwhile, cut the pears in half, remove the seed core and fibrous cores at either end, then peel the pears.

peel these and then cut in half

Add the pear halves to the simmering syrup and reduce heat to low.

Let pears poach for about 30 minutes. The pears will become slightly translucent, very tender, and easily pierced with a knife or skewer.

I like how these turned yellow

Let the pears cool in the liquid until room temperature before using. Or, you can store them in their liquid in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.


For the tart shell: Put the flour, confectioner’s sugar, and salt in a food processor and pulse a few times to combine. Add the pieces of cold butter and pulse until the butter is cut into pea-sized pieces.

Add the egg and vanilla and combine in several pulses until the dough starts to turn from dry to clumpy. Do not let the dough form one giant ball or it will be be overworked – just keep checking after every pulse and when the dough pieces looks like they will stick when you press them together, stop.

Butter a 9-in tart tin with removable bottom or 6 mini tart pans. Turn the dough out into the tin and press into the bottom and up the sides with your fingers. You probably will not need all the dough – save the extra for patching the shell after you bake it. Do not press the dough too hard or it will become tough – just enough for it to form to the tin.

Freeze the tart shell for at least 30 minutes. When you are ready to bake it, preheat the oven to 375 degrees.


To partially bake the tart shell, take a piece of foil and butter the shiny side, then press the buttered side tightly to the shell.

You do not need pie weights. Place the tart shell on a baking sheet and bake for about 25 minutes, until the shell is dry and lightly colored. If any places have cracked, repair with the extra dough. Let cool on a rack until room temperature.



For the frangipane: Combine the butter and sugar in the food processor and combine until smooth.

I used Irish butter that's why it's so yellow

Add the ground almonds and blend together.

Add the flour and cornstarch, and then the egg and egg white. Process the mixture until it is very smooth.

 Add in the vanilla and almond extracts just to blend.

The frangipane can be used immediately or you can store it in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. If it becomes too firm in the fridge, let it sit at room temperature for a while to soften before using.

To finish the tart: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spread the frangipane evenly into the cooled tart shell (It should be liquid enough to smooth out on its own so you don’t need to work to much on it).

Take the poached pears out of their liquid and drain them on paper towels. You don’t want too much excess liquid or they will make the frangipane soggy. Cut each pear half crosswise into 3/8 in thick slices. Do not separate the pear half yet.

pretty poached pears

Slide a spatula or other flat utensil underneath the pear so you can transfer the entire half onto the tart. Press on the pear to fan the slices toward the top narrow end of the pear.

I just wanted to show that this pear was sliced

Slide the pear half onto the frangipane carefully – you can move the pear after you place it, but not much.

Repeat with the other pear halves until there are four halves on the tart, evenly spaced.

Place it on the frangipane so gently

Place the tart on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes, until the frangipane is puffed, golden brown, and firm to the touch. Cool the tart on a wire rack.

all baked and cooling on the rack

Before serving, you can brush the pears with some warmed apricot jelly to glaze, or dust confectioner’s sugar over the tart.

so shiny after brushing the pears with apricot jam

Shiny So Shiny

then dusted with some powdered sugar

I love the way these look

I think they are so pretty

These really tasted amazing, I did also whip up some fresh cream to give people options to top there tart with. Poached pears are my new favorite thing and I will definitely make these again.

Ready to eat.

Gulab Jamun For The Win!

I've always liked trying new things, I've also liked eating something and immediately try to make it myself. I've had Gulab Jamun before, and they were the most amazing things I've ever had. I've never had a dessert like this. It reminds me of a little fried cake donut that acts as a sponge for a yummy cardamom sugary syrup. I have a few people to thank for this experience and they are my Indian friends Kirti, Kirin, and Archana. Every time I eat these I think of them and I think of my time in college. Gulab Jamun's make me so happy. I think i've tried making these before with one of those premade mixes and it did not end well. The gulab jamun's exploded when the hit the hot oil, so I gave up on them. I would go to Indian restaurants and always order gulab jamun. Even when I would go on vacation I would always find an Indian restaurant and order Dosas and Gulab Jamun (they only give you like 3, sad). I figured that I could make my own gulab jamuns and they would be delicious and I can scratch it off of my list. I did have to go to an actual Indian grocery store to pick up a few things. I had to get some ghee, cardamom pods, saffron, and maida (which is basically AP flour). I was able to find milk powder at kroger. I couldn't help after these were made to cut one open and eat it and it was yummy.

yummy gulab jamun

Here's what you will need

Gulab Jamun Recipe

• 1 cup of milk powder
• 1 tablespoon of ghee (clarified butter)
• 1/4 cup of maida (or all purpose flour)
• 3 tablespoons of milk
• pinch of baking soda
• 1 tablespoons of curd/yogurt/or butter
• 1 1/2 cup of granulated sugar
• 2 cups of water
• 5 crushed cardamom pods (optional)
• few strands of saffron (optional)
• few drops of rose water (optional)
• pistachios (optional)
• oil or ghee for frying

Let's start with the sugar syrup.

Place your granulated sugar in a medium/ large saucepan or pot

Now add in your 2 cups of water

Give it a quick stir as the sugar dissolves in the water

Take some green cardamom pods and crush about 4-5 and throw those in the pot with the sugar+water mixture

cardamom seeds

lightly crushed cardamom

Take a few strands of saffron and throw that in the same pot, a little goes a long way with saffron so just a pinch. You can also add in rose water, I didn't have that so I omitted that.

Saffron, why are you so expensive?

Bring your sugar to a boil and let it boil for a few minutes. Then turn the burner off and just let the syrup sit. The syrup should thicken slightly.  Not to thick, just think like a watery pancake syrup.

the saffron turns this a pretty yellow

Now take your milk powder, flour, and baking powder and mix together.

milk powder

add in your baking soda

add in your flour

all incorporated

once that is all incorporated, it's time to add in your ghee

the ghee made it a little crumbly, mix with your fingertips

Using your clean mix in your yogurt/curd/butter and add a tablespoon of milk at a time. do that until you get a dough that resembles that.

knead this with your finger tips, you aren't making bread

If your dough is too crumbly, add in a little more milk (a tiny bit at a time)

Now take a little dough and roll it in to balls. Make sure you have no cracks in your balls or they will explode when you fry them.

No cracks

I made about 13 balls

I hate rolling these

Ok so I poured some canola oil in a pan and turned the heat on about a 4 out of 10. So low/medium heat. You do not want your oil to be really hot because it will cook the outside of the jamuns before the inside is cooked, thats not good. You really are going to fry these on low heat (it should take about 6-7 minutes) A good way to test your oil temp is to place a little dough in your oil and count to five. If it rises before you count to five the oil is to hot. If it does not rise by the time you count to five your oil is not hot enough.

Ok when you have your oil at the right temp just gently drop a few in.

fry these on low

I did about 6 at a time, you see those little bubbles forming around the jamun. Ok, gently stir the oil in a circular pattern and try not to hit your jamun while you do that. Keep stirring this helps the jamun get an even color.  When the Jamun are brown take them out of the oil and I drained them with a paper towel.

Now take your sugar syrup and re heat it back up, not boiling and place your gulab jamuns in the hot syrup.

first batch swirling around in that yummy saffron syrup

first batch in

just soaking up some syrup

Turn the syrup off after like 5 minutes and place a lid on them. Let the Gulab Jamun soak up the syrup for atleast 2 hours ( preferably longer like over night in the fridge)

look at that beautiful interior, soaking up that amazing syrup!

 I couldn't wait so after two hours I cracked one open and placed the others in a airtight container and placed in my fridge for later days.

They are so good, they taste so buttery, I don't know if that's the ghee and the saffron and cardamom flavor really comes through. They are so soft and sweet, I can't wait to see how they will taste cold out of the fridge.

You can definitely enjoy these hot (just reheat them in the microwave with the syrup for 30 seconds) or cold. I was checking the internet and people also eat these with like a scoop of vanilla ice cream so go for it.