Pear Tart

By norsegal8

Chef's Note: This calls for an elongated tart pan with a false bottom that makes it easy to remove the tart or pie from its pan. If you don’t have one, this will work well with using just about any pan that’s roughly 8 to 9 1/2 inches in diameter. Though I hate store-bought pie shells, you could even prepare this with one of those and save a good 30 minutes or so.

Ingredients

• 1 pound basic pie dough
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3 each large eggs, beaten
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 13 tablespoons butter, softened, divided
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour, divided
• 5 to 6 each ripe pears, peeled, cored, and sliced 1/4-inch thick
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup almond flour
• powdered sugar, for dusting

Preparation

Step 1

Spray a long false-bottom tart pan with non-stick baking spray, or rub it with butter and then dust with flour. Roll out the pie dough to a thickness of 1/4-inch, and form it to the tart pan. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Place greaseproof paper on the tart shell and fill it with dried beans or baking bean to blind-bake the shell.

Bake tart shell in preheated oven for 8 minutes.

Carefully remove the beans and the paper.

In a mixing bowl, cream sugar and eggs together until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla, 6 tablespoons melted butter and 2 tablespoons flour.

Pour into the baked tart shell and cover with sliced pears.

Topping

In a small mixing bowl, mix remaining butter, 1/4 cup flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, almonds, and pecans.

Crumble over the tart before placing the tart back into the preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until it’s golden brown on the surface.

Remove from the oven and let it rest for 15 to 20 minutes before removing it from the pan and dusting with powdered sugar.