I feel like such a groupie! In honor of TWD’s one year anniversary, Dorie Greenspan picked this week’s recipe – her French Pear Tart, which you can find on Dorie’s website, or on pages 368-69 of Baking: From My Home to Yours. I think this has now moved to the top of the list of my favorite Dorie recipes. I used canned pears (according to Dorie, a very French thing to do, and I’m not going to argue), and regular old almonds (unblanched). I used an adaptation of Dorie Greenspan’s Good for Anything Pie Crust, and substituted cream cheese for the shortening.
What can I say? The dessert is absolutely fantastic. Master Chow, my honorable husband, announced that this ranks with one of the best desserts he’s ever had – in a restaurant! He could have eaten the whole thing, and thought that the canned pears (canned without sugar and in their own juice) worked out really well. The filling combined with the crust to form almost a chewy cookie-like texture at the bottom of the tart. The frangipane filling was light and flavorful. I should point out here that I chose to use 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract, along with 2 teaspoons of golden rum for the filling, and I’m going to use that again. I also added a pinch of kosher salt to the almond cream. And after making the Daring Bakers Buche de Noel (another fabulous dessert, but considerably more work), putting this together was a piece of cake. Or tart, I should say.
Thank you, Dorie, for a great pick and a great book. Please check out the blogroll to see how others have fared with the tart, and for an interview with Dorie.
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Yay — I love to hear when a new recipe becomes someone’s new favorite dessert! This tart really is incredible. I thought the canned pears worked out well, too. Yours looks fabulous. And I bet it really was a breeze after that yule log!
Glad you and Master Chow loved it! I too loved the chewy-like “crust” — kind of a like ooey-gooey bars.
You can sub cream cheese for the shortening? What a fabulous idea! I had no clue to even think about that.
And I’m sure that this was a piece of “tart” after that yule log.
I liked the tart more than the log ;-), I agree with your husband, great dessert.
Love the idea of the cream cheese in the crust – who wants to eat shortening anyway?
Beautiful tart, so happy it was such a success!
What a great way to change the crust up.
Looks lovely. I am still wishing I’d used canned pears..
Right on with the salt in the almond cream! I’m doing that next time. I bet this was great with a pie crust but I have to say that I loved Dorie’s tart shell, too.
Love the vanilla/rum combo. I will definitely try that next time.
What a compliment! It looks fabulous.
Yum! Your tart looks perfect and delicious. The cream cheese in the crust must have been unbelievable!
i hate that i’m missing this week’s recipe. it looks so wonderful and delicious! great job. thanks for the catch on my coconut bun recipe. I fixed it just for you!
I agree with you — it’s a wonderful dessert. I used unblanched almonds as well — I don’t really think it matters, because it tastes so good.
Master Chow has great taste…everyone here loved it as well! Yours looks very elegant and light and divinely good!
Ooohhh you used both vanilla AND rum. NICE! I’ll have to try that the next time I make the tart. My hubs agreed that its one of the best Dorie desserts so far even compared to bakeries or restaurants. Now thats a compliment! 😉
Clara @ iheartfood4thought
I love desserts made with pears. Your tart looks amazing.
yep, my husband is on that long list of spouses who adored this recipe. I gave him the last piece for dessert tonight. He’s become quite the Dorie fan after all these weeks of great desserts! If I didn’t have a package of blanched almonds in my drawer it would have been unblanched all the way for me too. I had a can of pears as a back up because mine looked too ripe. It all worked out in the end. I’m interested in your crust variation but we loved the sweet crust so much that I’m not sure I could vary it for this recipe! But I’ll keep that in mind for a future application b/c shortening sort of gives me the willies.
Nancy
Next time, I’m not fighting the canned pears.
Wait. Did someone say “cream cheese”?
I agree with you completely- this is a new favorite dessert! Yours turned out beautifully!
Your tart looks ever so French. My husband really liked this one also, having two pieces.
Your tart looks beautiful! I love the crispy/chewy top! Mr. SGCC proclaimed this one as a new favorite too. Impressive, because he rarely eats sweets.
I LOVE this tart…love, love, love it!
You did a beautiful job!
Your tart looks delicious. I really liked the way the filling and crust came together, too. Great texture.
I used canned pears too, which made this so easy. Your filling is the perfect color… nice job!
Your tart looks gorgeous! I too used canned pears and loved the simplicity of it. Glad you guys enjoyed it!
I went for the canned pears too, unsweetened, they were delicious. The almond cream-soaked crust was definitely my favorite part. But, this whole dessert was just perfect, imo. 🙂
Your tart looks tastily tempting. Glad y’all liked it. Guess I will have to break down and bake it.
The pear tart has become my favourite recipe from the book too! It’s really yummy, isn’t it? 🙂
Gotta love a recipe that calls for canned pears! Your tart came out perfect and this is now a favorite in our house!
I know what you mean feeling like a groupie. I think your tart looks delish, I’m not surprised Mr. C loved it!
I loved this tart, too; in fact, I believe it is my favorite of nearly all the Dorie recipes I have baked. The canned pears are a dream to use. I like the cream cheese in the crust-sounds delicious.
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