FALLing in Love with this Pear Tarte

Pear Tarte, be still my heart!

Pear Tarte, be still my heart!

I love to cook. As I have said before, I am an “ok” baker. My goal over the last year has been to perfecte the pie crust. As I have found with so many other scratch made items, scratch made isn’t harder, it’s simply better. Sure it’s easy to pop a pie crust from the freezer and thaw. However, you have no idea what is in it, truthfully. Making a pie crust or in this case, a tarte, is so simple. Simple enough, you may never buy another one.

All You Need Is…

• 1 & 1/2 cups plain flour

• 1 & 1/2 sticks cold, unsalted butter, cubed

• 1/3 cup ice water

• pinch of salt

In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, I mix the butter, salt and flour until it forms a mealy or coarse texture. Slowly drizzle in the ice water until a sort of ball forms, pulling away from sides of the bowl.  Put the dough on a floured surface and pat to form a disc. Wrap the disc in plastic wrap and chill for at least an hour. The longer the better. You can also freeze this for up to a month. Just make sure you wrap it and put it in a freezer safe package.

“Peary” delicious.

I love pears. For me, they are the markings of the transition from Summer into Fall. This tarte recipe highlights a subtle sweetness of the pear. We like Bosc pears because they cook well and aren’t too sweet or tart.  We add the perfect amount of sweet with orange marmalade and raw, natural, LOCAL honey. This combo gives the right amount of sweet to the pears also providing a gorgeous lustre and shine.

Tarte Filling

• 2 ripe Bosc pears, peeled and sliced

• 3 tablespoons sugar, divided

• 2 tablespoons orange marmalade

• 2 tablespoons local, raw honey

• 1 tablespoon flour

Roll out tarte crust to desired thickness. Tarts can be thicker than pie crusts to hold that yummy fruit. I use a large springform pan. Gently use the rolling pin to put crust on the bottom of the pan. Gently place pan bottom in pan and close. Use fingertips to form a pretty edge to tarte. Mix 1 tablespoon of sugar and flour and sprinkle over crust. Place pears on tarte in whatever pattern your heart desires. You can sprinkle the fruit with about a 1/2 tsp of sugar if you’d like but not necessary.Place in a preheated 375 degree oven for 40 minutes.

Add that sweet stuff!

In a small boiler, heat marmalade, honey and last 2 tablespoons of sugar just until combined and loose. After 40 minutes of bake time, drizzle the marmalade honey mix on top and bake for another 15-20 minutes. Until Tarte is brown and pulls away slightly from the sides of the pan. Cool in pan for 15-20 minutes. Remove springform sides, cut, add some ice cream (or not) and Enjoy!