This recipe for pear and almond speculaas tart is amazing for the start of autumn and was actually born after I started making spicenuts again… When I was making this Dutch treat I was like, this might actually be an amazing crust for cheesecakes or tarts! And I was right. I just love the speculaas spices and they go so well together with the almond paste and pear. It makes me think of Dutch filled speculaas, but then with the added freshness of the pear. Just a delicious tart to share over a warm cup of tea or hot chocolate.
I used the amazing speculaas spice mix by Jonnie Boer, a Dutch Michelin star winning chef. My parents send me some in their last package and I was thrilled with it as I was really missing these dutch spices. Hope you guys will enjoy this recipe as much as I did!
Ingredients
for the speculaas crust you will need:
- 125 g | all purpose flour
- 75 g | brown sugar
- 75 g | butter at room temperature
- 2 tbsp speculaas spice mix
- 1-2 tbsp milk
- 1/2 tsp salt
- optional: 1 tbsp anis seeds
For the almond frangipane filling you will need:
- 75 g| ground almonds
- 75 g | sugar
- 1 whole egg and 1 egg yolk
- 75 g | butter
- 2 sweet and juicy pears for the topping (I used Packham pears)
Directions
- Preheat your oven at 180°C or 356°F and line a 9 inch springform pan with baking paper.
- Crust: In a large bowl cream the butter and the sugar and mix in the flour, speculaas spice mix, salt and the optional anis seeds. Add the milk 1 tablespoon at a time until you can form a firm dough. Put the dough in the fridge for 20 minutes.
- Almond filling: mix all the ingredients for the almond frangipane filling in a small bowl and also reserve this in the fridge.
- Pears: cut your pears in halves, remove the core and thinly slice them.
- Assembling: get your dough and press it evenly in the lined springform with your hands. Make sure you also press your dough to the sides of the pan, it doesn’t need to be a very deep pie crust, 1 to 1.5 cm will do. Now evenly spread the almond paste on top of your crust and arrange the pears on top in your desired pattern.
- Bake: Put your tart in the preheated oven for 45 minutes and let it cool down befor you slice it.
Enjoy this pear and almond speculaas tart! Also try the recipe for these traditional Dutch spicenuts!
Welcome to my tiny kitchen! I am Ismay, my love for food began small, but it soon became an undeniable obsession with way too much hours watching food videos, tastings and covered in flour.