Makes one 10 inch tart
Our newest baking book Vegan Pie In The Sky will be out next month, just in time for pie season! You can preorder on Amazon now. We’re so very excited to give you a few previews and get you ready to tie on that apron, turn up your oven and sink your teeth into some luscious pie. Here’s a pic of the entire bookflap: front, back and inside.
OK, now on to the recipe! It’s the perfect addition to your autumn table.
Delicate and ever so fancy, there’s so much to love about this classic tart stuffed with a fragrant baked almond custard filling and tender pears. The top is brushed with a bit of melted apricot jam for even more flavor and shimmer.
A few tips:
To melt the jam, gently heat in a small pot for about 5 minutes, stirring often. Or melt in a microwave for a minute or two (depending on the strength of your machine), stirring every 30 seconds. It should be liquid enough to brush on top of the pie.
Pears will brown very rapidly once peeled. Rubbing peeled pears with a little lemon juice will halt the process and allow you to slice and layer them at your own pace.
One Shortbread Shell or Almond Crust pressed into a 10 inch tart pan and parbaked for 15 minutes at 350 F
6 tablespoons cold non-hydrogenated vegan margarine, cut into pieces
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 cup blanched sliced almonds, pulsed in a food processor into a fine meal
2 tablespoons cornstarch
pinch salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2/3 cup plain almond milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
4 pears (Bartlet or Bosc), peeled, cored and sliced into thin rounds
1/4 cup apricot jam, melted
Preheat oven to 350 F. In a food processor pulse together margarine, sugar, ground almonds, cornstarch, ground cinnamon, and salt until crumbly. Continue to pulse and stream in almond milk, vanilla extract, and almond extract to form a thick batter. Spread frangipane mixture into tart shell.
Peel the pears, remove the core and slice in half. Slice each half into 1/4 inch thin slices and lay overlapping slices on top of the frangipane, gently pressing the pears half way into the batter. Bake the tart for 35 to 40 minutes until the top is golden brown, then move the tart onto a cooling rack and cool for 20 minutes, then brush top of pears with melted jam. Cool tart for at least another hour before slicing with a thin, sharp knife dipped in cold water.
I made this for Thanksgiving, using very thinly sliced sweet apples. It was fabulous. I can’t believe how pretty it looked.
@ESW, the batter tasted oily at first but the cooked product was not oily at all.
Yes, I agree with above bloggers, that the filling needs to be processed a long time to make it smooth, but honestly I think the slightly chunky texture reminds me more of my Italian grandma’s almond pies.
I did prep it ahead, kept the prebaked crust and filling separate in the fridge overnight. I brought it all to almost room temp before putting it together and it was perfect.
I was worried about the measurements using only almond slivers (crust recipe calls for slivers, filling recipe for almond slices), but it turned out not to be an issue.
Agree with leaving off the jam glaze. I tried it, it didn’t really look any better that way and was more effort for zero return.
Isa, you rock and I will make this many times. Thank you for helping me keep my reputation as a good cook, in spite of having gone vegan!!!
Actually, now that I think about it I do wonder if the “failures” to set are because of not grinding the almonds finely enough. The instruction of “pulsed” in food processor is NOT what I did. I ground the heck out of it in my food processor to make a fine almond meal, and still initially felt that it was a bit grainy (but liked the final result a lot).
Flavors are excellent. To allow the almond filling to set, consider baking at 375F rather than 350F and extend baking time as appropriate so the center is no longer jiggly.
I felt so accomplished after making this pie. It was amazing, delicious, and not like anything I have made before! (I’m a muffin head)
Thank you so much for posting such a wide range of creative recipes. Mine and my Mann’s bellies are quite full of love.
I made this for company, none of whom are vegans (but I’ll be damned if I’m going to bake something that I can’t eat). Everyone thought it was delicious, even my husband who is a tart snob (he makes delicious, butter-laden fruit tarts all the time). I used Bob’s Red Mill almond meal for the almond crust and the filling which worked great, although I had to estimate how much to use. This one’s a winner, and if it’s any indication of the Pie in the Sky cookbook, I’ll be putting that one on my wish list for the holidays.
Here’s mine!
http://vegankitchendiaries.tumblr.com/post/14796969112/i-maybe-ate-a-bit-much-yet-another-christmas-of
Made it for Christmas dinner. I’m buying the book ASAP to complete my Terry and Isa dessert trilogy.
It’s in the oven as I type….we had the lentil tacos for dinner….very happy indeed.
This sounds amazing. Is there any way to substitute the margarine for oil at all?
thanks 🙂
Wonderful wonderful wonderful! I had no problem with my frangipani thickening, though I added a little extra cornstarch to be safe after reading some of the other comments here. The only thing I’ll do different next time is omit the almonds from the frangipani and just use almond extract. I would like to have a smoother “creamier” textured frangipani, and my food processor could not get the almonds fine enough to achieve that. Also, i substituted coconut oil for canola oil in the almond press-in crust. Great recipe, thanks so much.
I just picked up your Vegan Pie in the sky today…god it looks good. I’d made this pie from your web page plus the rad whip and the key lime pie and they were utterly fantastic. Can’t wait to try the little lemon mousse pies and the banoffee pie! Mmmmmmm I love the Rad whip but mine didn’t whip up as much as it was supposed to. It was still fantastic. Might be because I can’t get agar agar powder and have been using the flakes.
I just totally made a sugar free version of this delicious pie using liquid stevia instead of sugar. The whole family loved it, omnis and all. It did not caramelize as much as when you use sugar, but otherwise, it was yum.
Okay I made the Boston Cream pie from your book and it was so damned good that I made the lemon mouse pie on the same day!! The two of us managed to consume them within about 3 days…it makes me laugh in your book where you say “this pie is so rich a thin sliver will do” Dream on woman, these things are way too good for a sliver! Pear Frangipane, Key Lime Pie, Rad Whip, Boston Cream Pie and Lemon Mousse pie you’re batting 5 for 5, you’re better than the Babe!
I just made this and it lasted about 10 seconds. Everyone loved it! The only thing I found was that I had to cook it about 10 minutes more. Thank you sooooooooo much!
Delicious! I made this in 4-inch tarts for a friend’s baby shower yesterday. Everyone loved them!
Used this for a berry tart and it turned out great! Props to you, as always, Isa. http://theveganette.blogspot.com/2012/06/berry-frangipane-tart.html
I made this for a pie party over the weekend and it was delish but also didn’t quite set. Since do many people were saying it was liquidy I used only 1/3 cup almond milk but everything else I followed exactly. It wasn’t pie soup and everyone liked it but in case you were trying to some the
mystery I figured I’d add my experience. I wonder if my very ripe pears caused extra liquid too? They were suddenlyore ripe than I’d thought. Either way it was a hit and I’m making it again!
I subtracted the pears, added about a 1/3 of a cup of flour, pre-baked the pie crust, added a layer of strawberry jam under the frangipane, baked it for 40-50 minutes at 350, and as it cooled smeared the top with more jam, and sprinkled on a handful of almond slivers. Delicious!!
i just realized that your isa chandra (silly me). omg my sister and i have the vegan cupcakes and the vegan cookies recipe books. we have done so many of the recipes and have never been disappointed. gave some to friends and they loved it and couldn’t believe they were vegan. i am definitely going to look for the one on pies for i love pastries. i have made the fluffy vegan pancakes that is posted on this site and my family loved it. my sister was surprised there were ground flaxseed in it for she couldn’t taste it. but it may be perhaps because of the coconut milk. either way it was divine. look forward to try out more of your recipes >^-^<
Mine is in the oven now, been about 40 minutes and still pretty liquidy. I used almond meal from Trader Joes. Only used 2 pears as there was no room for more ant quite figure it why. Big pears? I’m wondering if the still hot crust changed the way it thickens? I didn’t cool the crust very long before adding the filling and pears.
I just made this, can’t wait to try it!
Has anyone found a fix for the tart being uncooked in the middle? I’ve made several recipes from this book and the cookie book and this is the only one I am having issues with! I follow the directions exactly, yet my batter doesn’t cook in the middle. I’m nervous to leave it in for longer than an hour.
Love this – especially the crust, which I made exactly according to the recipe. I can’t wait until fall to make it with pears, so I used two cups of blueberries. I also made some other substitutions: 5 T coconut oil + 2 T lemon juice for the margarine, 1 T kuzu for the cornstarch, and I used a combination of almonds, cashews, and pinenuts in the filling. I baked it for 45 minutes, then cooled it for an hour and chilled it overnight. It came out great! My husband, who loved the Blueberry yogurt pie I used to make said, “you should make it like this all the time!” Now I’m counting the days until October when pears will reappear!
I made this when first posted with pears and loved it and just wanted to return and say I recently made it with fresh apricots and it was just as fabulous 🙂 Thanks for the super recipe!
I am a new vegan (one year plus)and a huge fan of yours. I have many cookbooks and love the low fat direction you have been heading in. I tried this and found it a tad dry so when my husband came home with a bushel of plums I skipped the crust and subbed silken tofu for the almond milk and plums for pears- it worked really well. Keep up the great work, again I am a big big fan and really love your ideas.
sincerely
grace
This frangipane is so dang good that I ate it by the spoonful. I ran out of pears and did it with apples in a pie crust. Awesome.
I had a lot of fun making this since it is so different from anything I’ve ever made before. Unfortunately, this dessert just wasn’t for me. I felt like it was way too sweet, but that is just a matter of taste and I realize now that this is just what kind of dessert it is. Different strokes for different folks. I made the press-in almond crust for this, and unforatunately the edges burned before the frangipane finished setting in the oven. My oven does cook things rather quickly though. I also felt like the crust recipe didn’t make enough crust for the filling (the crust edge ended up being barely visible beyond the filling). I would suggest making or purchasing a regular pie crust for this one (I think it would taste better as well). That being said, I am definitely happy I tried this and I think it is a great recipe to make for a holiday celebration if you do a trial run beforehand.
Made this pie for my host family and their friends for a luncheon and it was a huge hit! Biggest deal? I’m studying abroad in Florence, Italy until March and the Italians were amazed it had no eggs, butter, milk, etc. HUGE SUCCESS! Plate was wiped clean in 5 minutes. You never fail Isa, just keep on falling more in love with you. 🙂
I opted to use the Almond Crust recipe as it used less almonds. Instead of almond milk, I had some canned coconut milk opened and used that. I didn’t par-bake the crust. This tasted like it was full of butter with no butter in it. Had company for supper and served this. It was a gray hit.
That was to say, IT was a great hit.
I made this recipe word for word, with the shortbread crust in vegan pie in the sky. It was perfext in every way. The filling will be runny. Let it set in the fridge for a couple hours. So. Perfect. And beautiful
I’ve made this numerous times since 1st making it with the pears, and it’s never failed me (unlike vegetarian frangipane). I’ve also replaced the pears with:-
1 can apricot halves (sliced),
1 can peach halves (sliced),
300g fresh raspberries,
and now I’ve just made it with 250g fresh cherries (halved and stones removed)
each 1, so far, has been just as nice as the 1 with the pears
I made a fresh apricot tart. I used coconut milk and didn’t put the almond extract. For the jelly I used a peach and apricot jam. Yummy!!!..
This was a huge hit with my guests! I made the Almond Crust but I only got enough dough for a 9-inch pan. Anyway, the rest was perfect, the filling wasn’t runny. Thanks a lot Isa! Love from France
I’ve made this maybe 4-5 times since 2012(?) You can substitiute coconut oil for palm-oil margarine. Typical comments I’ve received after making it: “This is incredible”, “This is the best pie I’ve ever eaten”, “Would you marry me?”
PS, To get it to cook thoroughly; make sure your oven temp is accurate. If you’re using a 9″-10″ pie pan instead of a 10″ tart pan, it will need to bake for an extra 15-30 minutes! Tart pans are much less deep. Some people like the filling softer, some like it firmer. Everyone likes it warm.
This was delicious! I subbed persimmons for the pears and used the shortbread crust from the book. At 40 minutes, mine was still looking loose in the center so I cooked it for another 15-20 minutes. I let it cool for a bit then threw it in the freezer for 20 minutes to make sure it set since I made it between Thanksgiving dinner and dessert and didn’t have too much time. Didn’t have any issues with runny-ness like some of the other commenters… perfect consistency. Also…. I like to grind my almonds in the coffee grinder… it’s quick and makes a super-fine flour.
This looks great, thanks for a vegan recipe
I really wanted to make this but the recipe is just too difficult to convert into uk measurements… not sure what the equivalent weight would be, we use ounces or gramms not cups…ended up abandoning the idea:(
This is an amazingly delicious and beautiful holiday desert. Perfect in every way.
The link to the almond crust is busted! I dearly miss it…