Makes one 10 inch tart
Our newest baking book Vegan Pie In The Sky will be out next month, just in time for pie season! You can preorder on Amazon now. We’re so very excited to give you a few previews and get you ready to tie on that apron, turn up your oven and sink your teeth into some luscious pie. Here’s a pic of the entire bookflap: front, back and inside.
OK, now on to the recipe! It’s the perfect addition to your autumn table.
Delicate and ever so fancy, there’s so much to love about this classic tart stuffed with a fragrant baked almond custard filling and tender pears. The top is brushed with a bit of melted apricot jam for even more flavor and shimmer.
A few tips:
To melt the jam, gently heat in a small pot for about 5 minutes, stirring often. Or melt in a microwave for a minute or two (depending on the strength of your machine), stirring every 30 seconds. It should be liquid enough to brush on top of the pie.
Pears will brown very rapidly once peeled. Rubbing peeled pears with a little lemon juice will halt the process and allow you to slice and layer them at your own pace.
One Shortbread Shell or Almond Crust pressed into a 10 inch tart pan and parbaked for 15 minutes at 350 F
6 tablespoons cold non-hydrogenated vegan margarine, cut into pieces
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 cup blanched sliced almonds, pulsed in a food processor into a fine meal
2 tablespoons cornstarch
pinch salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2/3 cup plain almond milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
4 pears (Bartlet or Bosc), peeled, cored and sliced into thin rounds
1/4 cup apricot jam, melted
Preheat oven to 350 F. In a food processor pulse together margarine, sugar, ground almonds, cornstarch, ground cinnamon, and salt until crumbly. Continue to pulse and stream in almond milk, vanilla extract, and almond extract to form a thick batter. Spread frangipane mixture into tart shell.
Peel the pears, remove the core and slice in half. Slice each half into 1/4 inch thin slices and lay overlapping slices on top of the frangipane, gently pressing the pears half way into the batter. Bake the tart for 35 to 40 minutes until the top is golden brown, then move the tart onto a cooling rack and cool for 20 minutes, then brush top of pears with melted jam. Cool tart for at least another hour before slicing with a thin, sharp knife dipped in cold water.
Looks gorgeous! If only I wasn’t stuck in a kitchenless college dorm I would make this in a second!
Yum! This looks insanely delicious! And congrats on the new cookbook! I’m sure it’s a jewel : )
Can’t wait to get the cookbook! Will there be a Kindle version?
I’ve always wondered what a frangipane tart was. That looks like it’d be a huge hit with my family (and me!).
My parents regularly leave 50# of pears on my door step in the fall, this is FANTASTIC!
Awesome I’m so excited for a vegan baking cookbook from reliable recipe writers like yo!
The hubby would LOVE this! Can’t wait for the cookbook!
When? October 17th? Is that right???? Can’t wait!!
Gorgeous! I am excited!
Looks so yummy!! Is there any way to make it without almonds? I recently developed an allergy to tree nuts which makes me a sad panda 🙁
Which nuts or nut-like things are you able to eat?
Yum! I neeeeed to try this.
Can’t wait for the new book to come out! And this pear tart looks amazing. I’m definitely going to try it. Our pear tree is dropping pears faster than we know what to do with them. Thanks for the inspiration.
I just bought Veganomicon and the Vegan Cookie book. Now I want this and thecupcake book and I’ll be in heaven! Thanks!
I can eat sunflower (or any other seed), peanuts, and coconut (is coconut technically even a nut?) I’ve used sunflower seeds in some recipes in place of cashews (which works pretty well) but I haven’t found a suitable almond sub cause they have such a yummy , unique taste
Well for texture I would use sunflower seeds. Perhaps a little coconut extract for some extra flavor? Of course, it won’t taste like almonds, but I bet it will be yummy.
Thanks Isa soo much for your suggestions-I appreciate you taking time to check!– I definitely will have to try it!!– I’m off to the farmer’s market today so hopefully they have some fresh pears!! I love all your recipes and have further developed a cupcake obsession because of your book! Keep up the awesome work!!! (I think I overused the exclaimation point a bit but I am just THAT excited)
And thank YOU for saying thank you! Makes my day. Hope you find your pears!
Will you give a gluten free option like in the cookie book? October 25th can’t come soon enough!
We did give a gluten free option in this recipe, but not every recipe has one. Fortunately most of the fillings are indeed gluten free, so if you use a GF crust you’re good to go.
Whoa, that looks completely wonderful! Dying for the cookbook, I’ve got all the other ones! I’m currently ploughing my way through pretty much every recipe from Appetite for Reduction, so obviously I’ll need to balance out all that healthy eating with a big ol slice of pie!
Oh I hope I’ll be able to get this book in Holland soon! Apart from buying one for myself, I’m thinking of giving it as a birthday gift to some of my non-vegan friends, so they can experience some vegan love and joy too (okay I confess, my motives would not be entirely altruistic…) Thank you for writing such wonderful cookbooks!
mmm, made this the other day, but had less pears than i realised, so used sliced strawberries instead. it was utterly amazing <3
Holy delicious. Can’t wait for the book!
Made this with some white peaches I had, and the almond crust. Absolutely delicious!!
I would make this tart with sweet cherries in cherry season too. And put a bird on it.
We put birds on things!
Made this a couple of nights ago. My husband said it was THE best dessert I’d ever made…and I’ve made a lot…even pre-vegan. Almondy, peary and almost buttery utterly delicious. I’ll be making this again.
I just made this for a dinner party- incredible & got rave reviews. Thanks!
had a great cooking experience with this tart. non-vegans were unaware of its special features until told. thank you.
I finally made this nommy tart- I used sunflower seeds & coconut (cause of the almond allergy) and used pumpkin butter instead of apricot jam cause that’s what I had and it came out really yummy!! It made a good breakfast this morning too 😉
Good to know that it still worked with the subs!
This was sooooo good. This is so going into my book of yum recipes*! AND I will make this for my carnivore collegues and they will adore it, I’m sure!
Will refer to thePPK 😉
Oh my fricking stars, this was amazing!!!!
I am ridiculously excited about this. My favorite “discovered on the internet” dessert is Bakewell Tart, which is tart cherry jam covered with frangipane. The recipe I have is done by weight, so it’s a huge PITA to make (I have no concept of weight/volume comparisons so I haven’t been able to convert it to cups, Tbs, etc.) and takes me forever. Your version looks quicker and easier. I can’t wait to try it!!!
Made this recipe with King Arthur’s Gluten Free flour mix! It was YUMMY! I mixed apples and pears b/c I made it for Rosh Hashana. Everyone…vegans, celiacs, egg allergy kids, and even those carnivores…loved it!
This is going to the top of my must make list
I’ve already made it twice…pure heaven!! Can not wait for Vegan Pie in the Sky!! Thank you from the bottom of my vegan heart!!
Okay, mine never became a “thick batter”, what am I doing wrong? When I poured it in the crust, it was pretty soupy and mealy. I baked it anyway, having to leave it in for MUCH longer than suggested. I brushed the apricot on and in the middle the batter was not finished. It’s currently cooling in the garage and while my family is great and will try anything, I’m incredibly bummed but kind of at a loss. I will say I used my parent’s Emmie food processor which I believe is almost as old as I am. Any thoughts? This looks so good in the picture (and it DID makes my house smell great!)!
I just baked this. The batter tasted amazing, but just like the last post, mine did not set up. I am wondering what I did wrong. I realized in the middle of the recipe that my almonds did have the skin on them. Would that prevent it from setting up? Please help Isa! Thanks!
My batter was pretty thin too (but also tastes amazing). Mine is currently baking so I’m looking forward to seeing how it turns out. I think next time I won’t add as much almond milk.
Count me in as another person with batter that was too thin. It didn’t set up after 20 extra minutes in the oven (though it was still thicker than the recommended time). I’m putting it in the fridge to see if that will help it firm up. I ground the blanched almonds in a brand new food processor, but I’m still learning my way around it. Maybe I didn’t ground them finely enough? Would purchased almond meal or flour provide the desired result?
Sorry some people had problems! We didn’t have any failures in testing so I’m not sure what the problem could be. I’m curious what the texture was after cooling. Are people using a different starch other than cornstarch or following the recipe to a tee? I’d love to get to the bottom of this!
Would almond meal work instead of the ground almonds?
Question: What kind of pie pans do I need for the pies in the book? I’m from Germany and pies are not so common here. I’d like to get them before the book comes out, so I can start immediately. I’m very confused about how high the edge should be. Some links with product pictures would be pretty awesome. + How do I get the complete pie out of the pan without breaking it? 🙂
We use a few different pans for the different kinds of pies. But most of the straight-up pies are using a deepdish 9 inch glass or ceramic pie plate: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0026RHI78/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wwwtheppkcom-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=B0026RHI78. We also use a shallow metal 9 inch pan for items with a cookie crust, like the chocolate pudding pie: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001BCNTTU/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wwwtheppkcom-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=B001BCNTTU. And we use a 9 inch Springform cake pan for cheesecakes: http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=wwwtheppkcom-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=B000237FSA.
To get the pie out of the oven, use two oven mitts, pull the oven rack out and gently lift from the bottom!
I made this for a recent potluck and everyone loved it. They couldn’t believe it was vegan! Next time I would leave off the apricot jam . It was a little too sweet for my taste, but no one else commented on it. I am waiting for my book to arrive from Amazon. Thank you for all of you great recipes. Your pumpkin waffles rock!!!
You know what? In the actual book we did decide to nix the jam. I just put up an older version of the recipe accidentally. Glad you loved it!
Noo! Oh well, mine has the glaze and I will see what happens. Actually, I had to add extra oat flour to the crust and did not add any liquid as it was very runny. I think I didn’t grind the almonds fine enough.
The filling was initially grainy, but I blended it in the vitamix after I initially mixed it by hand and it smoothed out and became thicker. I ‘ ground’ the almonds In a coffee grinder before I mixed them in. It wasn’t brown enough at 40 minutes, and still gooey in the middle and I put it back in for another 5 minutes, still not ready, then ‘forgot’ it for another 10 minutes or so….thank god I had turned the oven off.
http://esw.smugmug.com/Other/SmugShots/i-twZvMCQ/0/L/smugshot7596621-L.jpg
All in all it looks great and I can’t wait to tast it!
The tart was a hit all around. The crust was crumbly delicious (though I really noticed the oil) – my coworkers, including one chef, really raved. The texture of the filling was creamy, custardy and not overdone and the apricot glaze was perfect and not too sweet.
Loved this, Isa. Made it for a work potluck, and it was so tasty and it just looks gorgeous. I used the recipe in the book which doesn’t mention the jam. I made a simple rum sauce… I almost made an amaretto sauce, but I wanted more contrast. It was divine.
Dur, just read above comment re: jam. good call.
This looks fantastic! If I already have almond meal, what measurements should I use? I’m assuming the blanched almonds reduce to a different volume when ground up… thanks!
This is the second time I’ve made this tart — and I fixed the errors I thought I made in the first one and the batter seemed a bit thicker but It’s going on one hour in the oven and it’s still doesn’t look “done.” I used just regular sliced almonds and ground them up, is that my problem? Please help! This tastes DIVINE either way but I really want it to set up nicely to serve for Thanksgiving tomorrow.
I had the same issue as Lauren – the batter wasn’t anywhere near “spreadable”. It was completely liquid! There ensued a very nervous hour of baking, covering with foil, adjusting the oven temperature, etc, trying to get it to actually bake all the way through. I finally got it done, but despite my best efforts it meant that the crust came out kind of singed in places.
I followed the recipe to the letter so I don’t know what went wrong!