Instructions: Line a 10 inch flan tin with quick foolproof pastry and bake it blind. Make some almond pastry cream. Peel and core 5 ripe pears. Make some almond caramel

For the pastry cream: Bring the cream to the boil with the seeds and pod of vanilla. Blend the yolks, flours and sugar in a bowl. Gradually pour the hot cream onto the yolks, whisking continuously. Rinse the pan and return to the mixture to a low heat and cook gently until thickened, stirring all the time.

Remove the vanilla pod and stir in the pear liqueur and ground almonds.

Pour into the cooked pastry case. Fan the bases of the pears and arrange neatly in the tart. Dredge thickly with icing sugar and bake in the pre heated oven for 10 to 12 minutes to caramelise the pears. Finish under a hot grill or with a blow torch to achieve the golden tinged effect. Cool well.

Fill the centre of the tart with shards of caramel and almonds and put the whole caramelised almonds in between each pear.

For the caramel: Put the sugar in a heavy bottomed saucepan and cover with the water. Line a baking sheet with baking parchment. Put the whole nuts on one side of it and scatter the chopped nuts over the rest. Heat the sugar and water gently until the sugar dissolves and then boil rapidly until it forms a golded caramel. Pour over the nuts and leave to set. When cold and set, break off the whole caramel almonds and save for garnish. With the handle of a kitchen knife, gently tap the rest of the caramel and break it into shards of nut caramel to decorate the centre of the tart.

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