Adapted from Our Best Bites
A delightful chocolate tart with a cookie-like crust, a layer of dark chocolate topped with sweet pears and a chocolate custard. Every bite is pure bliss!
Before we start talking about this pear tart, have you entered the #Choctoberfest 2018 giveaway yet? If not … GO DO IT NOW! Then come back. I’ll still be here … are you back? Whew! I’m so glad because I’m ready to talk about pears.
I chanced upon some pears one day when I was out for a walk one day. Just around the corner from our house, one of the neighbors had put a kiddie swimming pool full of apples and pears out in front of their house (close to the street) with a sign that said “Free. Help yourself!” I wanted to walk back and get some, but I got caught up doing things in the house and forgot until my son and I were driving to the grocery store. He encouraged me to stop and get some, so I picked up a bunch of pears (not even making a slight dent in the pile they had in the pool!) and brought them home and set them on the counter to ripen.
Thinking ahead to #choctoberfest, I went looking about the interwebs for chocolate pear recipes and found this striking recipe from Our Best Bites that I was totally intrigued with. She describes her tart like this:
“You get 4 layers of flavor and texture: a cookie crust, melted chocolate, tender pears, and sweet creamy custard.”
The crust is a French pastry dough called “pâte sucrée.” It’s basically a cookie dough crust with a fancy French name. Personally, that makes me happy because I have a serious pie crust phobia. Not that I haven’t made a good pie crust in my time … I totally have. But I’m still scarred by a childhood memory when I tried to make a pie on my own with no recipe. (It wasn’t pretty … and it tasted hideous!) … but I feel very comfortable with cookies. Cookies are easy!
I upped the chocolate factor for #choctoberfest by chocolatizing the custard too. I was pretty pleased with myself until I started assembling it. After making my tart and filling it to the brim, I had a LOT of dough left and enough custard for another tart, but not enough pears. I felt betrayed and sad. There is totally enough to make TWO tarts here! You just need to make sure you have enough pears for the second one. I revised the recipe accordingly so you will not find yourself in the same situation.
When I pulled it out of the oven, it wasn’t as pretty as hers. I did a little sad face. I almost abandoned the post altogether, but then … I sliced the tart. And I tasted it. And the combination of flavors and textures was just magical. I told myself I can’t hide this treasure from the world. This post really NEEDS to happen!
And so I photographed it. And decided it really is kinda pretty. Then I took my tart up to my parents’ house so other people could taste it too. Everyone loved it … it was gone in no time.
Since I was nearly out of pears, I baked up the rest of the cookie dough crust in a pie pan to make an apple pie for my kids and they were totally happy about that. I am really so glad I discovered this cookie crust! It’s wonderful and totally worked for both the pear tart and the apple pie. It’s sturdy and holds together well, but still tender and lovely. The only trick to it is to make sure it’s very thin (about 1/4 inch thick) all over, especially in the corners of the pan. Press your fingers down into the corners to make sure it doesn’t get too thick there.
By the way, if you find yourself with extra pears, I highly encourage you to try making these white wine poached pears or the red wine version. They are amazing … and such an elegant, light dessert!
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Double Chocolate Pear Tart
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: 12 - 18 servings 1x
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 1 cup butter, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 2/3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 Tablespoon fat free half & half (or regular half & half)
For the custard:
- 3 eggs
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 1/2 cups fat free half & half (or regular half & half)
- 2 Tablespoons dark cocoa powder
For the rest:
- 1 1/2 – 2 cups good quality dark chocolate chips
- 6 – 8 large ripe but firm pears (or 10 – 16 little ones), peeled, cored and sliced
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 F. Spray two 9-10 inch tart pans or pie pans with cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until well mixed. Stir in the egg and egg yolk and vanilla until incorporated. Add flour and stir until mixed, then stir in the cream. You should have a nice big ball of cookie dough.
- Divide the dough in half and use your fingers to spread the dough out, covering the bottom and sides of the pan all over with a uniform 1/4 inch thickness. Press your fingers into the corners to try to maintain that 1/4 inch thickness there. Cover your crusts with parchment paper and fill with pie weights or dry beans. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove from oven, take out the pie weights and the parchment paper. Prick the bottom with a fork and bake for another 10 minutes.
- While the crust is baking, peel, core and slice the pears and prepare the custard.
- For the custard: beat together the eggs, brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, cream and cocoa powder until frothy. The egg whites should be fully incorporated.
- When the crusts are done, remove from the oven and immediately sprinkle with chocolate chips while still hot. Put them back in the oven for 1 minute to melt the chips, then use a spoon or spatula to spread the melted chips across the bottom of the tarts.
- Fill the tarts with pears, then pour the chocolate custard over, dividing the custard evenly between the two tarts. Bake for about 45 minutes or until the custard is set in the middle. Let the tarts cool completely and serve at room temperature.
Notes
Makes 2 9-10 inch tarts. Store leftovers in the fridge, but serve at room temperature.
RECIPE SOURCE: http://www.sumptuousspoonfuls.com/
© Copyright 2018, Sumptuous Spoonfuls. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to publish any of my images, please ask first. If you want to republish this recipe as your own, please re-write the recipe in your own words or link back to this post for the recipe.
It’s still #Choctoberfest and that means there is chocolatey goodness all over the interwebs today. Here’s what my fellow bloggers are cooking up today:
Disclaimer: Thank you Chocotoberfest Sponsors: Barlean’s, Divine Chocolate, Forte Chocolates, Sprinkle Pop, and Imperial Sugar, for providing the prizes free of charge. These companies also provided the bloggers with samples and product to use for Chocotoberfest recipes. All opinions are my own.
The Chocotoberfest giveaway is open to U.S. residents, age 18 & up. All entries for the winner will be checked and verified. By entering you give the right to use your name and likeness. The number of entries received determines the odds of winning. The prize packages will be sent directly from the giveaway sponsors. The Chocotoberfest Bloggers are not responsible for the fulfillment or delivery of the prize packages.
Bloggers hosting this giveaway and their immediate family members in their household cannot enter or win the giveaway. No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited by law. This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter or any other social channel mentioned in the Chocotoberfest posts or entry.
5 comments
This is such a great idea – pears are really underutilized!
Agreed! Pears are so elegant and lovely when cooked.
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OMG! The crust is like a luscious cookie. The filling is to die for. Then you have fresh pears! And, whipped cream. My dear Ann…you are killin’ me w/goodliness!! xo
Fantastic recipe! Love the combination! Thankyou