Pastry
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbls cold, uinsalted buter, cut into small pieces
2 tbls ice water
Frangipane
6 tbls butter
2/3 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup ground almonds
2 tsp all purpose flour
1 tsp cornstarch
1 egg
1 egg white
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
3 soft, ripe pears, peeled, cut into halves lengthwise and cored
To prepare pastry, place flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse to blend. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add ice water, pulse until a ball barely forms. Gather into a ball, wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 375 deg F
Roll out dough and place into a 9 inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Press pastry up the sides and trim the top even with the rim of pan, if needed. Bake 20 minutes. let cool.
To prepare frangipane, place butter and granulated sugar in the bowl of a food processor, process until smooth. Add almonds and blend. Add flour, cornstarch, egg and egg whites. process until smooth. add vanilla and almond extracts, blend well.
Spread frangipane in pastry. slicde each pear half horizontally into 1/2 inch inch thick slices, but do not separae. Slide each pear half into frangipane, nestling into mixture. press, spreading the pear slices slightly, Bake about 40 minutes, until frangipane is puffy and golden. Serves 8
