Pear, chocolate and almond tart

1. Sift the cocoa powder with the flour and make the sweet pastry following the method: At slow speed, mix the flour, salt, caster sugar and butter until the mixture has a sandy
texture. Add the egg and mix until it has an even consistency (a few seconds is generally enough). Rest in the fridge for 1 hour.

2. 3. Line the tart tin with the pastry and return it to the fridge for 30 minutes.

3. 4. Blind bake the pastry base: Brush the flour off the pastry base using your fingertips or a brush. Cover the pastry base with baking paper or a few layers of heat-resistant cling film and place it gently inside the lined tart tin. Fill the tart case with baking beans or rice/dried beans (I’ve been using the same short grain rice for years). Blind bake for 35–45 minutes at 160°C. The thickness of the pastry will determine the baking time. Allow 10 minutes to cool, then remove the baking beans using a large spoon. Remove the baking paper or cling film. Put the tart case back in the oven for an extra 5–10 minutes without the baking beans to even up the color. The center of the pastry must be a light golden brown.

4. 5. For the chocolate and almond cream, sift together the ground almonds and plain flour. In a mixing bowl, beat together the butter, sugar and vanilla seeds or extract until
creamy. Add the ground almonds and flour to the butter mixture and stir to combine. Scrape the inside of the bowl with a spatula to bring the mix back together in the center. Add 1 egg, then smooth the mixture against the side of the bowl to avoid lumps. Add the second egg and combine well. Melt the chocolate and 80g of butter in the microwave at a medium power, stirring every 30 seconds until it’s melted, then incorporate it into the almond cream using a spatula.

5. 6. When the pastry base has cooled, spread evenly with the chocolate almond cream.

6. 7. Garnish the tart with the poached pear halves and bake at 160C for 35-45 minutes. Cool at room temperature in the tin.

7. ***pita je fenomenalna. Čokolada, mandlji in sladke hruške pašejo skupi. Testo je tudi super, lepo se valja in lahko se ga spravi v obročke za pite, tudi okus testa je ravnoprav čokoladen ampak ne preveč sladek (kakav se lepo čuti).
***nadev precej naraste. Pri tej piti sem ga dala do vrha in ga je skoraj polovico steklo ven med peko. NADEVAJ MANJ!!!