Pear Tart with Almonds & Salted Caramel

Pear Tart with Almonds & Salted Caramel | Flavors of Light

This pear tart with almonds and salted caramel is almost effortless to make. Sweetened with just a tablespoon or two of sugar the delicate fresh pear flavor really shines through, and when "paired" with toasty almonds and dressed with salty caramel it makes for a light and elegant dessert.  

If you have zero time this simple recipe is just as delicious using puff pastry (store bought) for your crust—all in all this makes for a seriously impressive dessert.   Hope you enjoy ...I'm attempting to catch up on my posts, so I'll keep this short and let the photos do the talking!  x

Pear Tart with Almonds & Salted Caramel | Flavors of Light
Pear Tart with Almonds & Salted Caramel | Flavors of Light
Pear Tart with Almonds & Salted Caramel | Flavors of Light

Pear Tart with Almonds and Salted Caramel

First make the pâte brisée dough and store in the fridge until ready to roll out and bake the tart. Next, make the salted caramel, let cool and store in a glass jar. Both of these components can be made ahead of time, up to 3 days in advance making this an effortless dessert.

Ingredients
all-purpose flour for dusting
1 recipe cornmeal pâte brisée (recipe below)
1 recipe sea salt caramel  (recipe below)
5-6 firm pears
2-4 T granulated sugar, to sprinkle over the arranged pear slices
1-2 T fresh lemon juice
pinch of salt
1/4 to 1/3 cup of sliced almonds

You'll need a 9 (nine) inch tart pan with a removable bottom.  Spray the tart pan lightly with a neutral cooking oil spray.

Method
When ready to make the tart remove the dough from the fridge and on a lightly floured piece of parchment roll out the dough to about a 12 inches round and about 1/8 inch thickness. Transfer the dough to the tart pan shaping the dough to the pan and trimming off the edges.  Refrigerate the dough and pan until ready to fill with the fruit.

Preheat oven to 375° F

Prepare the fruit: peel, halve and core the pears. Place cut side down on a cutting board, slice the pears halves thinly keeping each half together.  Sprinkle the halves with 1 T or so of lemon juice to prevent discoloring.  Get the pan/dough from the fridge and arrange the pear halves starting at the outer edge working toward the center, fanning out the pear slices a little. Fill any gaps and the center with more slices, arranging them to fit. Sprinkle the fruit with the granulated sugar and a pinch of salt.  Sprinkle almonds over the pears and especially to fill in any gaps.

Bake the tart at 375° for about an hour until crust is golden and pear juices are bubbling. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack. Remove the tart from the pan and transfer to a serving platter. Finish the tart with the caramel (warm it up if it's been stored in the fridge by placing the jar in a saucepan of water heating it up slowly to a simmer or microwave briefly). When the caramel is at room temperature or warm enough to drizzle, decorate the tart by drizzling over the tart in a large circular pattern.

Serve warm or at room temperature with whipped cream. Enjoy! 

Cornmeal Pate Brisée
Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook, Clarkson Potter 2005
This is the same recipe used for this peach and raspberry galette with almond crumbs

Ingredients
1 c all-purpose flour
1/4 c cornmeal (I used fine ground cornmeal like Goya brand)
1/2 t salt
1/2 t sugar
1 stick unsalted butter (8 tablespoons) chilled and cut into small cubes
1/4 c ice water, you may wind up using only half of this amount depending on your flour/crust.

Method
I usually place the dry ingredients in a metal bowl in the freezer for a little while to get everything chilled before I start.

Add the cold butter cubes to the bowl with the dry ingredients and toss with your fingers to coat. Then toss, breaking up by rubbing the butter between thumbs and fingers to create flat bits of butter coated with the flour mixture until you have coarse crumbs. Add the ice water a little at a time, tossing mixture with your hands  just until the dough comes together and you can shape it into a ball. (I don’t have a food processor so I do it the old-fashioned way, but certainly use a processor if you wish to.)

Turn the dough out on a lightly floured work surface, flatten into a disc, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before using.

Sea Salt Caramel
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 T (1 oz) unsalted butter
1 t. sea salt
3 T heavy cream
 

Method
In a heavy bottom medium saucepan combine the sugar, butter and salt with 2 T water. Cook over medium high heat stirring until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves. Turn the heat down to low and cook the caramel, swirling the pan occasionally, until it turns a deep golden brown color, this will take about 5-8 minutes. When you have the right color take the pan off the heat and add in the cream, being careful as the mixture will spatter and rise up in the pan. Return the saucepan to the heat and cook another minute stirring until smooth. Set aside from heat and let cool, when warm transfer the caramel to a jar. 

Pear Tart with Almonds & Salted Caramel | Flavors of Light

2 thoughts on “Pear Tart with Almonds & Salted Caramel

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *