Recipe for a 9" or 10" round flan case.

Make a shortcrust pastry case (adding one tsp of icing sugar to the shortcrust pastry mixture) and bake blind.

Filling

125g (4 1/2 oz) butter
125g (4 1/2 oz) sugar
100g (3 1/2 oz) ground almonds
2 eggs
25g (1 oz) plain flour
3 or 4 drops of vanilla essence
2 large ripe pears
50g (2 oz) flaked almonds (optional)

Method

1. Mix together the butter, eggs, sugar, flour, ground almonds and vanilla essence.

2. Peel and core the pears and cut each one in half lengthways. The cut each half into slices crossways, keeping the half pear shape. Then place each of the half pears in the case with the narrow ends of the pears to the middle, showing the pear sliced across (see picture).

3. Tip the almond mixture into the case and smooth out between the pears.  If you prefer, add some flaked almonds between the pear slices.

5. Cook in a moderate over (180⁰C, 350⁰F) until golden brown in colour.