Poached Pears

1. Combine wine, water, sugar and vanilla in a medium saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved.
2. Meanwhile, peel, de-core and halve your pears, leaving the stems attached. Rub lemon over the pear to keep them from browning while you work.
3. Place pears in simmering sugar syrup, cover and let simmer for approx. 15-25 minutes or until pears are tender (timing will depend on the ripeness of your pears). Flip pears halfway through.
4. Let pears sit in syrup overnight in the fridge, or for up to 3 days.

Almond Cream

1. In a medium sized bowl, sift the almond flour to remove any large lumps. Add the all-purpose flour and mix together.
2. In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, mix the butter until you have a mayonnaise consistency; approx. 1-2 minutes on medium speed.
3. Add the icing sugar, increase speed and mix until fluffy.
4. Add the almond mixture until combined. Then add the egg, and vanilla extract and mix until smooth, scraping down the bowl as needed.
5. Cover and place the almond cream in the fridge until you are ready to use, up to 3 days.

Puff Pastry

1. Defrost pastry in the fridge overnight; read package details for proper directions.

Assembling tarts

1. Take the poached pears out of the fridge and place them on a drying rack cut side down (you may want to place a piece of wax paper under to catch the drippings). 
2. Take out the almond cream from the fridge to let it soften if it has been in the fridge overnight or longer. 
3. Roll out the puff pastry on a floured work surface.
4. Place the pears on the pastry giving lots of room between each pear (dab the pears dry if they are still dripping syrup). Outline the shape of the pear by either using a pointy knife or a toothpick by approx. 1/2 -1 inch larger than the actual pear.  You can be creative and make little leaves at the top too.
5. Do this for all of the pears. Then remove the pears and set them aside, remembering which pear goes where.
6. Now using a sharp paring knife follow the lines and cut the pear shapes out. Remove the extra pastry.
7. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place all 6 pear shaped pastries on the baking sheet (if you don’t have enough room divide the pears onto 2 baking sheets).
8. In the centre of each pear shaped pastry, pipe almond cream. Leave lots of room as the cream will leak out and run (if your almond cream is too hard to pipe let it come to room temperature to soften).
9. Gently place the pears on top of the almond cream and puff pastry. Clean off any extra almond cream that is sticking out beneath the pear and onto the pastry. 
10. Place the prepared tarts into the fridge for at least one hour or up to one day. This is so the almond cream can firm up again. If you miss this step you will have almond cream leaking out of the pastries.
11. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350˚F.
12. Brush the pastry with milk before baking.
13. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown on the bottom. Some of the almond filling may spill out, don’t worry this can happen. Once out of the oven use a sharp knife and cut off any almond filling that has baked out. 
14. Let pears cool on the baking tray for approx. 10 minutes. Serve warm with ice cream and berries.