SUNSHINE! AND A PEAR TART

 we recently had a spell of very fine weather here in Ireland 

It is amazing how the landscape changes here when the sun comes out 

and the humour

when the weather is 24c suddenly all kinds of things are possible

A dip in the lake 

An evening walk collecting wild garlic becomes a thing of beauty

you can stop and blow the dandelion clocks

You can potter in the garden until 11pm 

because in summer, in Ireland it stays light until then

Or you can go for a dip in the pool!!

All of this "hard" work calls for a little refreshment 

 Some mint, lemon balm and nettle tip tea

Pear and Almond tart

If you read this post 

You will know that I am attempting to make some healthy changes

the running is going well

after a few stalls I have kept going and am really starting to see and feel a difference

I downloaded the couch-5k app

I try to get in 2 runs a week

The no sugar thing is tough but i have definitely cut down considerably 

and i have also tried to adjust some of my favourite recipes 

to up their nutrition and make them a treat but a slightly healthier one 

so here is a slightly healthier but incredibly delicious pear tart 

Spelt Flour Shortcrust

250g whole spelt flour

95g cold butter

Tbspn sugar

1 egg yolk

preheat oven to 180c

butter and line a 25cm tart tin

Rub butter into flour until you get breadcrumbs

add sugar, stir

add eggyolk and bring together to form dough

wrap in plastic and pop in fridge for an hour

remove from oven and *grate into a prepared tart tin 

push and flatten evenly to create crust

refrigerate for 10 mins

prick the base with a fork 

line with parchment paper and add baking beans 

cook for 15 mins

remove beans and parchment and cook for a further 5 minutes

allow to cool

Topping

3 ripe pears peeled, cored and sliced into quarters length ways

200g soft butter

 200g ground almonds

2 large eggs lightly beaten

200g honey

preheat oven to 150c

cream the butter for 3 mins until light and fluffy

add almonds, eggs, honeyand fold carefully until combined

place the pears on the cooled tart case

spoon mixture over allowing pears to stand proud of the mixture

bake for 50 minutes until golden brown

serve with Greek yoghurt with a little honey added

* The method of grating a cold pastry dough into the tin is one which i think works incredibly well and it is much simpler than rolling and lining the tin
also because you are not pulling the dough it remains very light and crumbly
I will never go back