Bake of the Week: Pear flan by Jannettas, St Andrews

THIS week’s lovely recipe is brought to you by Nicola Hazel, the owner of Jannettas Gelateria in St Andrews.

Jannettas sells amazing ice-cream but, as this flan shows, there’s more to it than that.

It uses almonds in the sponge instead of flour, which gives it a delicate flavour and a light-as-air texture.

Serve on its own, or with a dollop of cream. A perfect way to round off Sunday!

You’ll need

For the shortcrust pastry:

150g cold butter, cubed

280g plain flour, sieved

3 tbsp caster sugar

For the flan:

170g ground almonds

170g caster sugar

3oz butter

4 large eggs

8 large fresh pears peeled and cored

Flaked almonds

Method

Rub the butter into the flour. Add the sugar and mix. Stir in 2 tbsp iced water and bring together to form a dough.

Using the heel of your palm, push the mixture out to distribute the butter. Avoid kneading, and this will make the pastry lighter.

Flatten the ball of dough slightly, wrap in cling film and refrigerate (it will last up to a week in the fridge and can also be frozen). Remove from fridge 10 minutes before use.

Preheat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas mark 4/350F. Grease and line a 20cm, fluted, loose-based flan dish with pastry.

Halve the pears and arrange in the pastry shell, dome side up.

Gently melt the almonds, sugar and butter. Remove from the heat and beat in the eggs. Pour over the pears. Sprinkle with flaked almonds.

Cook the flan in the preheated oven for 20 minutes until golden brown.

Using oven gloves, hold the dish over a medium flame and gently turn to dry out the pastry. This gives an even crisp, dry pastry base to the flan.