Gluten Free Fruit Tart

Secrets are not really my thing. I have never been good at keeping them. I have never felt the need to be illusive. I don't really even understand how to be discreet. As soon as I am attempting to keep a secret, I will start to get all twitchy & awkward and everyone who knows me will figure out what is going on. I haven't ever been able to keep a crush hidden or consider some new venture in my life without busting at the seams and talking about it to my close friends extensively.
For the most part, I live my life fairly openly. Every recipe I enjoy, I end up blogging about. Every cookbook or restaurant ends up getting mentioned. I talk about the bakery, and what products I am working on developing. There is one thing that has remained a secret. I won't tell anyone my pastry cream recipe. I have worked on it for years now. Tweaking away slowly to get it perfect. I will give people hints and point them in the right direction, but I just don't want to divulge all the little details. It's something I have worked so hard on perfecting that I want it to remain truly mine. I'm sorry if that means you have lumpy or too sweet pastry cream, but I am happy to make you a fruit tart to share over a cup of tea. We can talk about some of my other "secrets".


After I made a few friends some gluten free pies, I realized I had never made a gluten free tart before. I know in making pear frangipane tarts I have used an almond crust before, but generally all purpose flour is added to the almond meal as well. I also didn't want the crust to taste intensely almondy, but more subtle. I decided to use my regular shortbread crust recipe with half almond meal and half brown rice flour. It tasted delicious, but was a bit too crumbly. I think on the next go I might try to add a little starch and see how that helps the consistency. Do you have a favorite gluten free pie or tart shell recipe to help me find my way?