Pear and Almond Tart

Pears are in season and they're everywhere, with their great variety of textures, colors, and tastes. As much as I like eating a good pear, here's something else you can do with them: make a pear and almond tart.  

     Inspired by a visit to the nagycsarnok or Great Market Hall, I decided to make a pear tart. Upon arriving home and peeking in the old cupboard, I discovered half a bag of blanched almond slices. Pear and almond! Brilliant! A quick google search turned up this recipe. I proceeded to assemble all the parts: I made the crust and started to poach the pears while it pre-baked. I tweaked the recipe and included spices like cloves and cinnamon in the poached pears. I'm think, wow, I'm really doing great.

My tart, queen of tarts, because butter is the queen of my heart

     And then I ran out of butter. Because this recipe is one tablespoon shy of requiring two sticks of butter, and I was making two tarts. Such excess! Dear reader, there was another tart, not pictured, because between two people it ended its short tarty life within an hour of exiting the oven. And honestly it was the better looking of the two, because the pears were arranged in an artful floral pattern. It was too good to stop eating it for 30 seconds and take a picture. Almond and pears are a subtle combination, requiring many forkfuls to understand completely.