ALMOND PEAR BRETON TART

My daughters love Gâteau Breton, possibly the richest French dessert I know. Butter so thoroughly saturates the traditional sugary shortbread-meets–pound cake that it oozes out of the crumbs. To create a lighter version with more complex flavors, I turned the classic cake into a tart, with a crust encasing pear butter. The ripe fruit is cooked down until it develops a jammy, almost creamy lusciousness, which fuses with the crust, nutty with almond flour and tender from brown sugar.

makes one 8-inch tart

1. Grate the pears on the large holes of a box grater set in a shallow bowl. You should have 4½ cups grated pears with their juices. Transfer to a medium skillet, add the cinnamon stick, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. (Set the bowl aside.) Boil, stirring and scraping the pan occasionally, until almost all the juices have evaporated and the pan is nearly dry, 18 to 20 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons of the brown sugar and 1 tablespoon of the butter and cook, stirring, until the mixture is pasty but still a bit wet, 4 to 5 minutes; you should have 2 cups pear butter. Return to the bowl and cool completely, stirring occasionally to speed the cooling.

2. Whisk both flours and the salt in a small bowl. Beat the remaining 7 tablespoons butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until very smooth and creamy. Add both extracts and the remaining ½ cup (104 g) brown sugar and beat on medium-high speed until pale tan and very fluffy. Scrape the bowl. Turn the speed to medium, add the egg yolk, and beat until incorporated, then beat in the whole egg just until smooth; reserve the remaining egg white. Scrape the bowl again. Gradually add the flour mixture, beating on low speed just until the dough comes together and all the bits of dry ingredients disappear.

3. Transfer two thirds of the dough to an 8-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom or a springform pan. If using a tart pan, use a small offset spatula or your hands to spread the dough in an even layer across the bottom and up the sides of the pan. If using a springform pan, spread the dough over the bottom and 1 inch up the sides. Line a small baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the remaining dough on it and spread into an even 8-inch circle. Freeze both doughs until firm, at least 10 minutes.

4. Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 350°F.

5. Spread the cooled pear butter in the frozen tart shell; discard the cinnamon stick. Brush the top edges with some of the reserved egg white. Invert the dough circle over the filling, aligning the edges, peel off the parchment, and brush the top with egg white. Run a fork over the top, from edge to edge, to score the dough with decorative lines, spacing the lines an inch apart. Repeat in the opposite direction to create a crosshatch pattern.

6. Place the tart pan on a baking sheet and bake until the tart is golden brown, 40 to 45 minutes.

7. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Place the pan on a ramekin to remove the sides of the pan. Cool completely on the pan base on the rack. If using a springform pan, run a knife around the sides, release and remove the sides, then cool completely on the pan base.

Make Ahead

The tart shell and dough round can be frozen for up to 1 week. The tart is best the day it’s made; the crust softens after sitting overnight.