Tarte amandine aux poires

I've made this recipe many times and have probably even blogged about it before. Well, here we go again! I made this one on Monday as Ken's birthday dessert. He loves almond and pears and this tarte is one of his favorites.

Doesn't that look tasty?

It was also unique in that I used the pears from our own tree. Last fall, when the pears were getting ready, Ken read that they should be picked from the tree while they're still hard, then ripened in a cool, dry place. So he gave it a try. The pears were perfect and, while we ate some then, we had enough to put up in jars with syrup. I used one of those jars for this pie. Here's the recipe:

• 1 pie crust (I use my standard pâte brisée recipe)
• 1 or 2 cans of pears in syrup (you can also use fresh pears)
• 100 g butter
• 100 g granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 100 g almond powder (finely ground almonds)
• 25 g all-purpose flour
• 10 cl pear liqueur (or other fruit liqueur)

Cream the softened butter and the sugar together. Add the eggs (beaten), then the almond powder and the flour and beat until well mixed. Add in the liqueur.

Blind bake the crust then, when cool, pour in the batter mixture. It will be thick, so spread it out to fill the crust. Press the drained pear pieces into the batter as far as you can without breaking them.

Bake in a moderate oven (180ºC or 350ºF) for about 30 minutes.