I, historically, hate New Year’s Eve. It feels like a high-pressure holiday, but frankly, unless you’re going to “go out,” I’m not sure how it’s supposed to be celebrated other than staying up late just to be concious for the first minutes of the New Year. (Also, I don’t want to “go out” – on New Year’s Eve, when everyone else is “going out??” That doesn’t sound appealing! Only if I knew my evening could be as great as this would I’d reconsider.) So this year, my New Year’s Eve resolution was to make the holiday not suck! Which largely meant making it lowkey but not aimless. And ending the evening at 11pm instead of midnight. And eating Pear Frangipane Tart.
We started the evening with a miniature “ball drop” for my niece at around 6:45 before she went to bed. Then, we had a three course dinner: a Thai Chili Brussel Sprout appetizer, a champagne sage chicken fettuccini dish, and then this pear frangipane tart!
After dinner, we watched a New Year’s episode of TV, played a board game with some year-themed trivia, and then we watched the NYC ball drop at 11pm.
Home by 11:20, in bed by 11:40, and reading a book in bed as I heard a few fireworks go off to indicate it was midnight. Brilliant evening.
New Year’s Day is a great holiday. No work, a fresh start. Bagels in the morning, a run, the Rose Parade, reflecting on the old year and starting to think up all that you can do in the new year. Maybe there’s something about me preferring beginnings to endings, but I think the real issue is just that New Year’s Eve is a stupid holiday. No need to stay up until midnight. Just start the new year with 8 hours of sleep.
I said this a few days ago, but apparently the second Friday in January is called “Quitter’s Day,” which is when “most people” quit their New Year’s Resolutions. Frankly, I don’t think I even have my New Year’s resolutions set by then. On January 1st, you hardly know what shape your year is going to take. I talked about it in last year’s New Year’s post, but I like setting goals once I get a sense of what I want to do in a year. It takes a little bit! I set “resolutions” all year. Just… rarely on January 1st.
2025 was a big year for hitting goals! Ones that I set or established at various different points in the year. Let me do a quick year in review, of the “Big Three” hobbies:
- Running Goal: 870 miles. Final total: 1123.9 miles
- Bonus: ran a marathon!
- Book goal: 48 books. Final books read: 53
- Blog posts goal: 104. Blog posts: 122
- Bonus: entered into the State Fair!
And of course, some other year-in-review numbers, because I keep so many spreadsheets:
- I saved $1,426.86 using my AMC A-List subscription to see 100 movies in theaters! I had no goal, but saving over $1,400 is pretty good.
- I only had to apply to 107 jobs until I got a new one… the least number of applications in three years! My only goal was to get a new job, and I had that crossed off by May. I got to abandon that spreadsheet early, and it has been such a joy having that no longer on the brain.
- I completed a goal I set in September, and I wrote an 80,000 word first draft of a novel that will likely never see the light of day… but was satisfying to write!
This year also saw a lot of travel, and family visits, and other great things that cannot be quantified for my graphs and numerical year-in-review. All-in-all, a really excellent year.
Going forward, I am starting to putting together some vague ideas for 2026 goals. I did a marathon in 2025, and I think maybe doing a 112 mile bike ride (the iron man biking distance) in 2026 would be fun. Of course I aim to keep up a good pace with the blog. And reading and running. Maybe I’ll set some goals as I come to them. Likely, a new challenge or idea will pop into my head in a few months, and I’ll start pursuing it then. New Year’s is not the only time you can set goals.
So cheers to 2025, and cheers to 2026! 25% of the way through the 21st century. Only slightly terrifying to call it that.
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PinIngredients
- 9-inch tart pan
- 1 package store-bought pie crust (or your favorite homemade recipe. You can also use this patee brisee recipe)
- 1 cup blanched or natural almond flour
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon whiskey or brandy
- 1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt; for table salt, use half as much by volume
- 2 firm but ripe medium pears, peeled, cored, and quartered
- Honey, for brushing (optional)
Instructions
- Roll your pie dough to 1/8-inch thickness and 10 inches wide, adding more flour to the rolling pin or surface as needed to prevent the dough from sticking.
- Gently transfer dough to a 9-inch tart pan. Using lightly floured fingertips, press dough into the bottom edge and fluted sides of the pan; using a pastry brush, dust off any excess flour.
- Using a sharp paring knife, trim away excess dough from the edges so that the dough is level with the top of the pan. Using a fork, prick tart dough all over.
- Freeze tart shell for 30 minutes.
- To Bake: Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 400°F. Place a crumpled sheet of baking parchment inside the frozen shell and fill to the brim with dried beans, sugar, raw rice, or baking weights.
- Bake crust until edges are firm and lightly golden brown, 23 to 27 minutes. (The bottom will still look “doughy” and light in color.) Remove tart crust from the oven and carefully remove parchment and weights. Return the crust to the oven and bake until golden brown around the edges, 7 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and allow the tart to cool completely, 45 minutes to 1 hour, before filling for the rest of the recipe.
- Make the filling: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar on low speed to roughly incorporate. Increase to medium-high speed and beat until smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes, pausing to scrape down bowl and beater with a flexible spatula as needed. Add almond flour, all-purpose flour, egg, brandy (if using), almond extract, vanilla extract, and salt. Mix on medium-high speed until smooth, thick, and creamy, pausing to scrape down the bowl and beater halfway through, about 2 minutes. Using a flexible spatula, scrape bowl and beater to ensure that no streaks of unmixed butter remain.
- Scrape almond filling into the tart shell and, using an offset spatula, spread it evenly from edge to edge to cover the bottom of the tart. Set aside.
- Using a sharp knife, slice each pear quarter lengthwise into 1/8-inch thick slices, stopping 1/4 inch before the stem ends to keep slices attached. Repeat with remaining pears. Using your hands or an offset spatula, gently lift sliced pears and set them on top of the almond filling, flattening and fanning them out. Repeat with remaining pears.
- Bake until filling is a light golden brown and just firm to the touch, 40 to 45 minutes. (If the tart shell begins to darken too quickly, tent the tart with foil and continue to bake.)
- Remove from the oven and, using a pastry brush, brush sliced pears with honey, if using. Let cool completely in the pan, about 1 hour.
Notes
From Serious Eats