By Trang Doan - (updated ) - This post may contain affiliate links.
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Buttery crust, creamy pistachio frangipane filling flavored with orange zest and fresh pears combined to make this Pear Pistachio Frangipane Tart one of the best Fall desserts. Serve it up with whipped cream, ice cream or as is.
Step aside apples, it’s time for pears to shine in this Pear Pistachio Frangipane Tart. I love apple this season, but have always felt pears deserve the spotlight too. I used Anjou pears in this recipe because they keep their shape well when baked. If interested, check out this post where I made a delicious pear smoothie and talked about all the different types of pears and what they’re good for.
How to Make Pear Pistachio Frangipane Tart
As always, I start out with my all-butter pie crust for a fool-proof buttery sweet crust that I love. The crust doesn’t have to be par-baked since the filling is thick enough that it won’t make the crust soggy. Frangipane is typically is a mixture of butter, sugar and egg with almond meal. For this recipe I’ve replaced the almond meal with homemade pistachio meal made from grinding raw pistachio in the food processor. Orange zest is added to the pistachio frangipane to brighten its flavor.
Peel and core the pears whichever way you’re used to. Quarter the pears and cut them into thin slices. Arrange them with the core side facing down into the frangipane as pictured. My tart pan only has enough space for 7 or the 8 quarters. If you use a slightly larger round tart pan, you may be able to fit all of the pears in. Then bake until the top if golden brown.
When you first take this Pear Pistachio Frangipane Tart out of the oven, it will be very puffy. But as it cools, it will deflate and create some cracks on the surface. That is entirely normal. The final product may not look as pretty as when it first comes out of the oven, but it will taste amazing no matter what.
This Pear Pistachio Frangipane Tart is a wonderful dessert that’s full of unique Fall flavors. It is beautiful, tastes fantastic and deserves a spot on your dessert table this holiday season. Say yes to pears and pistachio!
More Beautiful Tarts
- Apple Tart with Almond Paste Filling
- Chess Pie Tart
- Pineapple Coconut Frangipane Tart
- Strawberry Rose Tart
If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment, rate it and don’t forget to tag me @wildwildwhisk on Instagram. I’d love to see what’s cooking up in your kitchen. Cheers!
📖 Recipe card
Pear Pistachio Frangipane Tart
Buttery crust, creamy pistachio frangipane filling flavored with orange zest and fresh pears combined to make this Pear Pistachio Frangipane Tart one of the best Fall desserts. Serve it up with whipped cream, ice cream or as is.
5 from 10 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Dessert
Prep Time: 30 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes minutes
Resting Time: 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes
Total Time: 1 hour hour 15 minutes minutes
Servings: 8 people
Author: Trang
Ingredients
For pie crust
- 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 rounded tablespoon granulated sugar
- ¼ rounded teaspoon kosher salt
- 5 ounce unsalted butter - cold
- 3 tablespoon cold water
- Extra flour for rolling
For filling
- 4 oz unsalted butter - softened
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon orange zest (zest of 1 small orange)
- 1 cup ground pistachio (4 ¼ oz)
- ¼ cup flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 large egg
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 Pears
Instructions
Make the dough
Add flour, sugar and salt in a small bowl and mix thoroughly with a whisk. Then transfer to a food processor fitted with the dough blade.
Cube the cold butter and add to the flour mixture. Pulse several times until butter is about pea and bean size, variation in size is okay, but no smaller than a pea.
Turn the food processor to “on” position and drizzle cold water over the dough mixture through the water hole, as soon as the dough starts to pull together turn the food processor off. You may need to stop the food processor in between and get a spatula to get the flour at the bottom to mix up.
Turn the dough out on the counter or cutting board and shape into a disk. Wrap in plastic and rest in the refrigerator for an hour.
Prepare the filling
In the bowl of the same food processor, ground the pistachio until mealy, set aside.
Add sugar, orange zest and soften butter to the same food processor and cream together.
Add ground pistachio, flour and salt, and pulse until combined.
Beat the eggs with the vanilla extract and add to the food processor. Pulse until a smooth paste forms.
Refrigerate the mixture for at least an hour.
Assemble and bake
Preheat oven to 400°F.
Take pie dough out of the fridge and roll into a circle about 2” larger than your tart pan. Use extra flour to keep dough from sticking to the counter and roller.
Carefully place the dough over the tart pan, lightly press the dough into the bottom and side of the pan, let the excess dough hang over the side.
Press the rolling pin along the edge of the tart pan to take off excess dough, place in the freezer for 5 - 10 minutes.
In the mean time, wash the pears, peel and quarter. Remove the core and cut into thin slices crosswise.
Take the tart pan out of the freezer and poke the dough with a fork all over to create steam vents.
Add the pistachio frangipane filling and spread it with a spatula evenly.
Add pears on top of the filling and push them slightly into the filling.
Bake in the middle rack for 40 - 45 minutes uncovered until the top is golden brown and puffed up.
Remove and let cool on a wire rack completely before cutting into the tart.
Serve with a dusting of powder sugar.
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Reader Interactions
Comments
cindyShould the pistachios be raw or can they be roasted and should they salt free?
Reply
- Trang Doan
They can be roasted. I would recommend salt free so you can control the amount of salt added in the filling. If you only have salted pistachio, then I would omit the salt called for separately, but I can’t guarantee the taste if you use salted pistachio since I don’t know exactly how much salt is added with the pistachio.
Reply
- Sam
I really wanna make this but I don’t have a dough blade for my food processor—I only have a dough attachment for my stand mixer. Will just a regular blade in my food processor or the dough attachment for the stand mixer work?
Reply
- Trang Doan
Hi Sam, you don’t need the food processor to make the crust if you don’t have a dough blade. Make it by hand or use the paddle attachment with your stand mixer (not the dough hook, that’s for bread dough), check out my pie crust recipe for more info on this. But you will need the metal blade to ground the pistachio in your food processor.
Reply
- Tara
So delicious! Not too sweet but full of flavor. A new favorite in our home. Thank you!Reply
- Trang Doan
Happy to hear you enjoyed this tart! Thanks for the 5 star review Tara!
Reply
- Louise
Placed the pastry in a smaller tart tin and had to transfer to a larger one with somewhat messy results (knowing what size tin to use beforehand would have been helpful), but apart from being a little time-consuming, this recipe is wonderful. The tart is very delicious and was a big hit as a birthday dessert. Wish I’d had time to place the pear slices nicely like on the picture, but just dumped them all on top of the frangipane and it worked just fine. The orange zest infused pistachio frangipane is incredible! Wonderful flavor combination. The crust was also delicious. Served with Grand Marnier-flavored whipped cream – YUM! Will definitely save this recipe to Favorites. Thank you for sharing! - Mary
Delicious, with an original combination of flavors. My only comment is that the oven temp seems a bit high. My tart was done on top after 35 mins—and crust starting to get too brown on the edges—- but the bottom crust was still a bit underdone. Next time I’m going to try baking at 375 for 40-45 minutes. Thanks for a delightful recipe!Reply
- Trang Doan
You could also tent the top when it gets too brown and let it continue baking. Thanks for trying the recipe.
Reply
- Jan
hi there – just wondering for the pistachio frangipane, if i only have egg whites would it work? thanks!
Reply
- Trang
The texture might be a little dryer with just egg whites since the yolks contain fat, but if you have to, use about 100 grams of egg whites, that would be about the weight equivalent to 2 eggs. Or a little less egg white and a little more butter to make up for the missing fat from the egg yolks.
Reply
- Lin
Hi! Can you tell me the size of your tart pan used in this recipe. I used a regular pie tin and ended up with extra filling . It turned out great and smelled so delicious. Can wait to eat it 🥧 ☕️! Thank you!Reply
- Trang
Hi Lin, my tart pan is 9″ in diameter and the side is about 1.5″ tall. Did you have a lot of filling leftover? Just put it in a small ramekin and bake it with some chopped up pear. I hope you enjoy it 🙂
Reply
- Lin
Thanks Trang! I had about 1/3 cup left. The tart was delicious. I’ll bake it remaining frangipane later!!!Reply
- Trang
Yay! So glad you liked it 🙂
Reply
- Sarah
I am so excited to try this. I recently went to a bakery and had a similar confection with apricots instead of pears. Do you think I’d be able to make that substitute in this recipe?Reply
- Trang
Hi Sarah, certainly you can make that substitution, though I felt like an almond frangipane would go better with apricots but try and let me know if you like the pairing that way.
Reply
- Heather
Hi! I was wanting to make this today (Friday) to be served on Sunday for a dinner party—do you think it’ll be ok for a couple days and would I need to refrigerate it or keep it at room temp? Thanks!
Reply
- Trang
Hey Heather, yes it will last til Sunday and I would keep it refrigerated to be safe. I can make a few suggestions if you want to bake it closer to the dinner party: a) the crust can be made and shaped in the pan and keep in the freezer, b) the frangipane will last a couple of days in the fridge prebake, so you can make it and keep it in an airtight container until you are ready to bake. Then on Sunday morning, all you need to do is slice the pears, put the components together and bake. But again, it will be totally fine if you make it today. 🙂
Reply
- Nor
Just baked it for Friday night’s dinner!! N we really love the combination of flavours! Love the recipe!!!Reply
- Trang
Thank you so much! I’m so happy you love it 🙂
Reply
- Corinne
I made this and it was pretty amazing!! Loved the pistachio and orange – really livens up the pear. I tried another version with rhubarb and pear and while it was still really good, not quite as interesting as the pistachio. Highly recommend!!Reply
- Trang
Thank you so much for the feedback, I’m super happy that you enjoyed it!
Reply
- Marie
Frangipane is among my very favourite desserts and using pistachios is absolute genius. I’m loving the pear and orange as well. This is definitely making my to-bake listReply
- Kenneth Orloff
Sure looks tasty.Reply
- mimi rippee
This is gorgeous! You’ve a very talented baker!
Reply
- Trang
Thank you so much Mimi!
Reply
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