Posted on Friday, 13th January 2012 by Grace
I couldn’t have picked a better day to prepare this warm Pear Tart, the snow is falling and it’s so cold outside. I think it may be the only thing I enjoy about the winter season, indulging in what I call warm and cozy desserts. And this pear dessert definitely falls into this category. I lined the crostata with rich and flaky pâte brisée and filled the tart it with a yummy almond frangipane with cocoa and of course the star of the show, poached vanilla pears.
I’ve always been a lover of fruit desserts but I especially enjoy pies, clafoutis and crumbles especially when they’re hot and bubbling right out of the oven and topped with a scoop of homemade vanilla bean ice cream and drizzled with a little liqueur. I’m perfectly happy hibernating indoors until spring, in fact that’s what I feel like I’ve been doing for the past couple of months.
Liana, my amazing, “patient” (not!) daughter (no really she’s been very patient), has been my errand runner for the last few months as I’ve been testing recipes for my cookbook. Unfortunately with our computer problems I’ve had to remake a few (20) desserts a few times and Liana’s patience is understandably wearing a little thin. At times I’ve felt like tearing my hair out of my head or throwing the computers out the window but my main concern has been if this continues I may never fit into my jeans again! Thankfully family members have been rallying around and picking up desserts. It’s so difficult to resist the temptation to indulge when everywhere you look you see sweet treats!
I sent Liana out to the market three times for pears for this tart. I’m sure she was tired of receiving the notification, “you’ve got mail”, and in fact I’m sure my nephew was too! I’m so tech savvy, wrong, that it appears he was receiving my never-ending grocery lists too. Unfortunately every time Liana returned from the market the pears were either too big (or so I thought), a little too bruised or not so delicious inside. By the third time I could hear her mumbling under her breath (not very nice mumblings I might add). I’ll let you in on a little secret (something I definitely will not be sharing with Liana), I should have used the pears from the first market run, my small, perfect forelle pears look a little lost in my tart. I’m thankful in the end that it’s the taste that counts…right?
When I was remaking desserts I thought why not make some extra pastry dough and stock up the freezer. Before long I was doing the same with pasta sfoglia (puff pastry), cookie dough and pan di spagna (basic sponge cake). I’m hoping to do more of this in the future, dedicate a couple of days out of the month to stock up on the basics. It’s extremely handy because you already have all the ingredients out. And I think it will also lead to tastier individual elements of a dessert. If I only have to concentrate on one part of the dessert at a time I think it will give me the chance to get more creative with the flavours.
I’m not sure why I haven’t been doing more of this. When you have the basics on hand it’s so easy to put together a delicious dessert. This tart took no time at all, while the pears were poaching I blind baked the pastry shell and prepared the filling and within an hour we were enjoying a warm, inviting and flavourful tart.
I love all fruit but I’m more likely to enjoy a bowl of fresh strawberries rather than grab an apple or pear from the fruit bowl, unless of course the apples or pears are baked. If you have any picky winter fruit eaters like me Crostata is the perfect dessert, winter fruits shine in a crostata and it’s so simple to make. Paula showcased the quintessential winter fruit in her Crostata di Mele and she coated the apples with a red currant jelly glaze. Although Crostata is the perfect way to highlight winter fruit it’s also quite versatile as we see with Brandon’s Pumpkin Ricotta Crostata, Lora’s Crostata alla Nutella and Greg’s rustic, free form Jam Crostata. And let’s not forget my favourite season, and my favourite berry; sweet and juicy strawberries are nestled on a bed of crema pasticcera (Italian pastry cream) lightened with crema chantilly in this Crostata di Fragole.
What sweet treat do you enjoy indulging in on a winter’s day when the snow is falling and it’s cold outside?
Pear Crostata with Chocolate-Almond Frangipane {Crostata di Pere e Frangipane al Mandorle e Cacao}
Makes 1 28-cm (11-inch) tart
- Pâte Brisée or Pie Dough {Pasta Brisè per Crostate}
- Vanilla Poached Pears {Pere alla Vaniglia}
- Chocolate-Almond Frangipane {Crema di Frangipane al Mandorle e Cacao}
- Apricot Glaze
Pâte Brisée or Pie Dough {Pasta Brisè per Crostate}
- Prepare pastry dough according to recipe instructions. Shape two-thirds of the pastry mixture into a ball, pat down into a disc, wrap in plastic and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Shape the remaining pastry mixture into a ball, pat down into a disc and save for another use. Leftover pastry can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month.
- Remove pastry dough from the refrigerator and transfer to a lightly floured work surface. Dust the surface of the pastry lightly with flour and using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll out pastry to a 36-cm (14-inch) circle about 3-mm-thick (1/8-inch-thick). Dust off excess flour with a pastry brush. Roll the pastry circle of dough up onto the rolling pin and transfer to tart pan. Fit the dough into the tart pan; trim off any excess pastry with a sharp paring knife. Pierce the base of the pastry shell with a fork. Chill pastry shell in the freezer until firm, about 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 190° C (375° F). Remove the pastry shell from the freezer. Line the pastry shell with non-stick baking paper and fill with ceramic pie weights, uncooked rice or beans, flush to the top. Bake for 20 minutes; remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack. Carefully remove the weights and the baking paper and return the pastry shell to the oven to bake until lightly golden, about 10 minutes.
- Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack. Let cool until warm, about 10 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 180° C (350° F).
Vanilla Poached Pears {Pere alla Vaniglia}
- 960 ml (4 cups) water
- 338 grams (1½ cups) caster (superfine) sugar
- 96 grams (½ cup) demerara sugar
- 5 to 6 forelle pears, firm but ripe
- 1 vanilla bean, split and seeded
- 3 or 4 star anise pods
- 1 cinnamon stick
- In a medium saucepan bring water, caster sugar and demerara sugar to a boil over medium heat, stirring until sugar is completely dissolved.
- Meanwhile, wash, peel (using vegetable peeler and keeping as much of the pear’s natural shape as possible), cut in half and core (with a melon baller) pears.
- Reduce heat to medium-low; add vanilla bean, seeds, star anise and the cinnamon stick.
- Add the prepared pears to the poaching liquid and cover with a cartouche. Gently simmer at medium-low heat until pears are cooked through, flipping pears over halfway through cooking time (pears should still hold their shape but are tender when pierced with a skewer), about 25 minutes.
- Remove from heat; remove baking paper and set-aside allowing pears to cool in the poaching liquid. Remove pears from poaching liquid and transfer to a dish and set-aside until tart assembly.
Chocolate-Almond Frangipane {Crema di Frangipane al Mandorle e Cacao}
- 150 g (1 cup) almonds. toasted, cooled and chilled in the freezer (to prevent oils from seeping out when processing nuts)
- 60 g (¼ cup) caster (superfine) sugar
- 60 g (1/3 cup) yellow golden sugar (light brown sugar)
- 120 g (½ cup + ½ tablespoon) unsalted butter, softened
- 2 large eggs + 1 large egg yolk, room temperature, lightly beaten together with a fork
- 24 grams (¼ cup) unsweetened cocoa, sifted
- In the bowl of a food processor, pulse almonds to a coarse crumb.
- Add the caster sugar and the yellow golden sugar and pulse to a fine crumb.
- In a medium-sized bowl, using a hand-held electric mixer, beat butter until creamy. Gradually add the nut mixture and beat to just combine.
- Gradually add the eggs, beating until combined well.
- Gradually add the sifted cocoa, beating to just combine.
Apricot Glaze
- 60 ml (¼ cup) apricot jam
- 15 ml (1 tablespoon) water
- In a small saucepan, heat together apricot jam and water, stirring until liquid.
- Remove from heat and strain through a fine mesh sieve into a small bowl.
Assembling Pear Crostata
- Sliced almonds, lightly toasted, optional
- 1 teaspoon confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
- 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa, for dusting
- Spoon one-half of the frangipane into the slightly cooled pastry shell. Sprinkle the sliced almonds over the filling. Spoon the remaining filling over top of the almonds.
- Arrange pears in a decorative pattern.
- Return tart to the warm oven and bake until the pastry is golden and the frangipane is set, 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, sift together the confectioners sugar and cocoa. Whisk to combine well.
- Prepare the apricot glaze immediately before removing the tart from the oven.
- Remove tart from the oven and transfer to a wire rack.
- Using a small, fine mesh sieve, dust tart with cocoa mixture (do your best not to dust over the pears).
- Using a pastry brush, coat the pears well with the apricot glaze.
- Serve warm.
- Buon Appetito!
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Tags: after school treat, afternoon tea, almonds, cake, cakes, chocolate, chocolate cake, chocolate dessert, crostata, dessert, desserts, food, food photography, food photos, fruit, fruit crostata, fruit desserts, fruit pies, fruit tarts, Italian Cake, Italian Cakes, Italian dessert, Italian desserts, pie, tarts
Posted in Baking & Pastry, Baking Mise en Place, Custards, Creams & Mousses, Fillings, Frostings & Dessert Sauces, Pastry Doughs & Batter, Recipes
Comments (11)
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January 13th, 2012 at 5:02 pm
So funny, your daughter must be incredibly patient. I think my mother would have to bribe me well to do the same! This tart looks so beautiful though, I love the combination of pear with chocolate and almond.
January 13th, 2012 at 9:33 pm
I love your crostata, Grace. I can eat a crostata any day of the week and just love them with fruit. Your pear crostata is just divina:)Thank you for mentioning my Nutella crostata (can’t wait to peak at the links to the others you mention). un bacione xo
January 13th, 2012 at 9:50 pm
Beautiful photos. I love the glazed look of the pears and while I never would have thought to combine pears with chocolate, your recipe makes it sound delicious!
January 14th, 2012 at 11:25 am
Oh lord, that looks beyond delicious! I love poached pears, and then inside a chocolate frangipane? To die for! Your pictures are amazing!
January 14th, 2012 at 11:30 am
This really looks delicious, Grace! Love this combination of flavors. Yumm!
January 14th, 2012 at 2:17 pm
I love pear and chocolate together. I once made a chocolate upside down cake and it was wonderful. However, I think next time I will make poached vanilla pears to put in it! What a wonderful idea!!
January 16th, 2012 at 3:38 am
That looks and sounds absolutely delicious! Pear and chocolate are just made for each other.
January 16th, 2012 at 3:03 pm
ah, Sweet Grace. You do make the most unbelievable desserts. Hang in there, my friend.
January 17th, 2012 at 8:11 am
Love the shot of the pear with the anise. Beautiful!
January 17th, 2012 at 10:26 am
Your daughter is a good sport:-) And so are you! I would have gone crazy if I had lost that many recipes from my computer.
The tart looks fabulous and delicious!
January 19th, 2012 at 9:36 am
Looks great, thanks for the mention!