Pear & amaretti tartlets

Today I'm giving you another wonderfully fantastic cake recipe which has been a staple on my dessert menu list for well over 15 years now (and I made it again yesterday for a pre-Christmas Sunday lunch with friends):

It's from the great New Zealand chef Peter Gordon's first book The Sugar Club Cookbook and not only does it taste divine, it also looks so "professional" that it could easily grace the poshest patisseries in Paris - yet it is SO easy to make:

230g shortcrust pastry (shop-bought is fine)
210g butter, softened
90g sugar
250g Italian amaretti biscuits, crushed
110g ground almonds
4 eggs
grated zest of 1 lemon
1 tbs lemon juice
6 sweet firm pears

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan oven.
Peel and core the pears and cut into halves or quarters.
Line a 30cm round baking tin/4 loose-bottomed tartlet tins (10-12 cm) with baking paper. Line with the pastry and then again with baking paper, fill with baking beans (or dried pulses/rice) and cook for 5-10 mins until golden brown.
In a food processor, pulse the butter, sugar, biscuits and almonds into a paste for 45 secs.
Add the rest of the ingredients and pulse again for 30 seconds.
Spoon the mixture into the (cooled) pastry shell(s).
Place the pears around the base, pressing them into the mixture.
Bake for ca 40 mins (25-30 for the individual tartlets).
Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Serves 4 - 6.

You can read the German version of this post here.