A minimalist but delicious vegan pear and almond tart with a whole wheat crust and amaretto-spiked pears.
You might also like this recipe for vegan pear bread.
It's late Thanksgiving morning, those special someones are coming over for dinner, and you've been slaving over a delicious vegan meal from the moment you got home yesterday afternoon. Everything looks amazing, but you still want to kick yourself. Because you forgot dessert.
Well maybe you're different, but that often happens to me. I usually leave dessert for the very end in my meal planning because there's always the possibility of making it optional. Or serving up some fresh fruit. All well and good, except, honestly, you simply cannot do that on Thanksgiving.
No, Thanksgiving is the day for stuffing yourself and your guests without any excuses, and even if you've just served up a meal everyone will remember a year after, there is no way you can wriggle out of serving up a slice of pie.
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Well, this Pear and Almond Tart is the perfect recipe for a day so special. It's easy as pie to make, looks perfectly elegant, and is incredibly delicious with the warmth of nutmeg-kissed pears in a biscuity, almondy, part whole-wheat crust.
I add some Amaretto, an almond liqueur, to add more almond flavor to this tart, but if you would rather not, use a little almond extract instead. You could also try mixing some slivered almonds in with the filling-- they'd be perfect in here.
Enjoy the recipe, all!
More vegan pie recipes
Recipe card
Vegan Pear and Almond Tart
Ingredients
For the crust
- ½ cup whole wheat pastry flour
- ¾ cup all purpose flour
- ¼ cup almond butter
- ¼ cup vegan butter
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- Ice-cold water
For the filling
- 3 pears , cut into halves, then thinly sliced horizontally (there's no need to peel them-- the skins melt in the mouth when baked)
- ¼ cup sugar
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg (use cardamom for a delicious variation)
- 1 tablespoon amaretto (almond liqueur). Use ½ teaspoon almond extract if you'd rather not use the liqueur.
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 tablespoon all purpose flour
Instructions
- Toss the pears and other ingredients together gently (the pears will break easily, so be careful)
- Set aside for 15 minutes
- Mix the two flours, salt and sugar in a bowl and then, using a pastry cutter or two forks, cut in the almond butter and vegan butter until they are evenly dispersed through the flour. The shortening should be in little pieces, about the size of peas.
- Using a fork to mix the flour, drizzle in the ice cold water, a tablespoon at a time, until the dough comes together in a ball.
- Place the dough in plastic wrap, shape into a disk, wrap tightly, and place in the refrigerator for three hours or overnight. You can even make this a few days ahead and freeze it, then thaw it ovenight in the refrigerator. Remember to keep the dough cold at all times.
Assemble the tart
- Take the refrigerated dough and, on a floured surface, roll it into a disc about 12 inches in diameter (most tart pans are 10 inches in diameter, and you want to give another inch or so to cover the sides. When rolling any pie dough keep rotating the dough and flouring the surface and rolling pin to ensure it is not sticking to the surface.
- Fold the disc in half, then lift it into the tart pan. Open it to cover the tart pan. Very gently, with your fingers, push the dough into the corners so that the dough fits evenly into the tart pan. Use a rolling pin to roll over the edges of the tart pan and cut off the excess dough.
- Refrigerate the tart pan with the dough inside for 10 minutes.
- Working quickly, arrange the pear slices in the pan in concentric circles, overlapping them. You can try any design you like, or even go free-form, but this simple design I made is an easy one and doesn't take any time at all. If you have broken pear pieces, put them at the bottom and use the good ones on top.
- Pour any juice at the bottom of the bowl into the tart pan.
- Place on a baking sheet and bake 55-60 minutes in a preheated 375-degree oven. The filling will be mostly set but might appear slightly jiggly in parts, which is okay.
- Cool thoroughly on a rack before serving, which gives the filling time to thicken and solidify.
Nutrition Information
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Claude says
Hi Vaishali. Wow this pear tart was absolutely delicious! I am not a baker but after sampling some amazing ( not vegan) pear tarts in France recently, I decided to give your vegan tart recipe a go. I am one of those cooks that cant seem to follow a recipe so I modified according to what was available and it still worked!!
I didn't have almond butter so used almond power, a bit more vegan butter, plus a tablespoon of natural peanut butter ( sort of like almond butter right?). Then I certainly didn't have enough sugar but I did have maple syrup! Finally no amaretto so I used Cointreau instead. I served this at a meeting this morning and almost all had seconds!!. Thank you so much for sharing! Apparently I can bake now.
Rozanna N Gontaryuk says
Sounds great. Will definitely try it. Is it freezer friendly?
Vaishali says
Yes, freeze for up to three months after wrapping tightly in freezer-safe wrap, or freeze slices in freezer-safe container.
Norm says
Why do the directions say “shortening” when it’s not on the ingredient list, did you mean the vegan butter?
Vaishali says
It's vegan butter. A typo on my part, corrected.
Anonymous says
This saved the day! I didn’t have the Amaretto but it still tasted lovely- not too sweet and teenage vegan loved it more than the usual pear tart tatin
Denise says
Hi
Can this be frozen?
Koyal says
Thank you, Vaishali for this fabulous recipe. First time I made it for my Son who is vegan and he loved it.
The second time I baked one delicious tart for both our son and daughter- in- law who is allergic to nuts and glutens with following substitutes: gluten-free pastry flour, apple- butter instead of almond butter and cornstarch for all-purpose flour.
Thanks again for the recipes you post on your blog!
Vaishali says
So happy you and your family enjoyed the tart, Koyal!
Carolyn France says
This looks really good. I would need to make the recipe gluten free. Have you tried making it with gluten free ingredients? What modifications would I need to make? Thank you.
Vaishali says
Hi Carolyn, just use a gluten-free all purpose flour to make the crust instead of regular all purpose and whole wheat flour. And sub the all purpose flour in the filling with cornstarch. Cheers!
trish says
Hey there,
Have tried quite a few of your recipes and LOVE them. Making your beet burgers with the chipotle chili sauce this week. What is almond butter? This tart looks amazing but I'm unsure where to find or how to make almond butter. If you've already answered this question before I apologize. Thanks so much for a great website!
Luminous says
"Buttered" or creamed Almond Nuts. We prefer it in our hoysehold to peanut butter. Blissful creative cooking to you and yours love!
nadja says
This is one of my favorite pies! I have made it 3 x in the past month. Your recipes haven't disappointed me 🙂 Question, would you know how to substitute eggs in a pie recipe that ask for eggs to make a custard like pie filling? I would like to veganize a recipe for Orange maple walnut pie from the book "Year of Pies : A Seasonal Tour of Home Baked Pies" but I'm new to this, and can't think of what to use instead.
I could type the recipe (if you ever wanted to try something like this) since I can't find it online.
Thanks!
Vaishali says
Hi Nadja, You can use tofu as an egg substitute to create a custardy filling. A savory recipe where I did this was this Coriander Quiche:
Glad you like the Pear and Almond Tart. 🙂
nadja says
Thank you :]
I've tried many of your recipes, and they haven't disappointed me!
Luminous says
My favorites to use are a mixture of : Flax seeds, applesauce, mashed avocados and/ or bananas. Also depending on the purposes in which to utilize. Get creative and most importantly have fun!
Anonymous says
could other fruit spreads that say buter be used like apple, pumpkin, or other nuts instead of the almond butter?
Vaishali says
No, because fruit butters don't have the fat you need to make this crust flaky. They'd just add moisture.
Luminous says
You may utilize any other "nut " butter and try creating in this way though. Such as cashew, peanut or macadamia. Have fun! Get creative, inspire, and Love often.
Namaste.
"Holy Cow" is the best!!!
daisy says
This was simply amazing. I am a fan of cardamom, so I used that as well as nutmeg in here, and added some crystallized ginger to the crust. I'm a newbie vegan, and I've been reading your recipes for days, picking out a few at a time to try. Thank you so much! I have also wanted to learn how to cook Indian food and I'm learning so much just from reading here...I can't wait to keep cooking!
Manju says
Ohh my! that is such a gorgeous looking tart!
Miri says
What a perfect crust and such a beautifully moist filling!
Divya Vikram says
That is one elegant and delicious dessert!