Tuesday, January 06, 2009

TWD: French Pear Tart

This is so cool! Because it was the first anniversary of Tuesdays with Dorie, Dorie herself chose the recipe! So cool!

As I've said before, I'm not much into the fuss factor. This recipe was chock full of components, but none of them were very difficult. There are essentially three parts to this recipe: the crust, the almond cream, and the pears.

The crust was very easy. It's a cookie crust that gets pressed into the pan. No rolling involved! I love that. It sat in the freezer while I made the almond cream. Oh, and I used the same (read - not cleaned in between) food processor for the crust and cream. The almond cream came together in seconds. It went into the fridge while I worked on the next step. The pears could have been much easier, but I did chose the most difficult of the three options.

Apparently, very often canned pears are used for this recipe. I happened to have a big bag of pears that the boy wanted me to buy and then never wanted to eat. Option two was to use the fresh pears as is. I went with option three, which was to poach the pears. This was also much easier than I was expecting.

While the pears were poaching, I partially baked the crust. That way they could be cooling at the same time. I will note that my crust could have stood a little more baking. When the crust was cool, I spread in my almond cream. The cutting of the pears worried me a little. There wasn't a picture in the book of the finished tart. I guessed. Apparently from other pictures I've seen, I guessed wrong. However, I like the way mine came out. It bakes for an hour. And then you get this:



The almond cream puffed up just the way it was supposed to.



Here's a close-up of my pear fan.

I needed to dry my pears a little more so that the almond cream wouldn't be as soupy. All in all, though, it's a great recipe. I would absolutely make this again. It was easy enough to do, and almost all the parts can be made ahead.

Thanks for thinking up and choosing such a great recipe, Dorie! You can see her tart and the recipe here.

37 comments:

Cakelaw said...

Your pear fans look great! I wasn't sure hwat to do there either, and I would bet on the fact that mine isn't right. Oh well, tasted great. Yours looks fab all round - hope you nejoyed the eating too.

ostwestwind said...

Great looking pear fanning! Your could be just in Dories book

Ulrike from Küchenlatein

Sabrina said...

I didn't wash my my food processor in between the tart dough and the almond creme either! :)

Your tart looks beautiful! Nice work!

Flourchild said...

Wow what a lovley tart. Your pears look perfect. My tart was not so pretty but I sure enjoyed the flavor!

Peggy said...

Your pear fan is perfect! I did mine wrong of course, but it was tasty nonetheless. Great job!

threesidesofcrazy said...

Absolutely beautiful! I'm not into the fuss factor either! I gave up on the fan and just swirled them - didn't change the flavor a bit! LOL

Cathy said...

Your tart looks PERFECT!! I wish I had some lovely fresh pears to use, but I can report that this was wonderful even with canned pears. I used the same food processor for the crust and the almond cream as well without cleaning it in between. Hey, it's all going to the same place, right?

Beautiful tart!

chocolatechic said...

Beautiful fanning of the pears.

Nancy/n.o.e said...

That is some serious pear-fanning talent! I love the way your tart looks with the almond cream all puffed up and golden brown. This was such a fantastic recipe. I don't do fuss either, but with each of the components so straightforward, it's not too bad. And almost all could be done in advance.
Nancy

Jessica said...

Your tart looks Bea-U-tiful! And your crust didn't get too brown! I'm jealous. It's a great recipe though.

Unknown said...

Your tart looks amazing! I love the way you arranged the pears.

Anonymous said...

You did an absolutely beautiful job on the tart!

Anonymous said...

Your tart looks perfect. I love your fanning. This was a GREAT recipe.

Marthe said...

Your pears look absolutely perfect!! I can't wait to taste my tart! I wish I had a food processor though, it would make life sooo much easier!

Kimberly Johnson said...

I love how you fanned your pears! Beautiful job!

Anonymous said...

Wow...yours looks absolutely stunning...seriously...I think this is my favorite post of yours, as this looks just way way too delicious! Great job! Really great job!

Unknown said...

Beautiful pear fanning technique! I also had the soppy pear issue. But it turns out delicious, no matter what. Great job!

Unknown said...

Your tart look so pretty and majestic. I lobe all the swirling going on!

Jaime said...

wow, great job fanning the pears! i think it looks better than the way dorie intended :)

oh and it wasn't until recently that i realized most of dorie's recipes say to put things on a baking sheet. but whenever i do that my stuff is underdone. so i just skip it now for the most part :)

Anonymous said...

Ah, funny how desperately wanted fruit gets forgotten. I'm glad someone else experiences that phenomenon, too!

Sweet as Coco said...

Your pear fan is beautiful! :)

Babette said...

Very pretty!!

Katrina said...

I love the way you fanned out your pears. It looks great! Yum to this tart! Thanks for visiting my blog.

Anonymous said...

I love how your pears are arranged! I agree that this recipe was pretty easy and ended up looking and tasting impressive!

kimberly salem said...

i love the way you fanned the pears, it looks so pretty and elegant!!

Kristin said...

Your pears look gorgeous! Not wrong at all! Beautiful tart!!

LyB said...

It's beautiful! I think the almond cream made this tart as special as it was. :)

Anonymous said...

I wish I had used my own pears rather than the canned ones which were too small. Your pear fans are very artistically presented!

Liz said...

A+ on the pear fanning! Your tart looks gorgeous and absolutely delicious.

Sherry Trifle - Lovely Cats said...

You made a beautiful tart - a very good example to follow for future pear fanning when I try the technique.

Sherry Trifle - Lovely Cats said...

You made a beautiful tart - a very good example to follow for future pear fanning when I try the technique.

AmyRuth said...

Your fans look very nice. Glad you liked your tart. I made my sweet tart crust the night before the frangipane so darn I washed it. Anyhow, Great job
AmyRuth

Jacque said...

I like your pears too. There's no wrong way to do it, if you ask me.

Oh, and I totally didn't wash my food processor in between either. Too much work!

CB said...

Wow. Your pear tart turned out fabulous. Love the way you fanned the pear slices!
Clara @ iheartfood4thought

spike. said...

I like the way you did the pears. perfect!

Amy said...

Your tart turned out so beautiful! I love how you arranged the pears.

Lauren said...

Wow, it looks mouth watering. Thanks for your comment too.