Tuesday, January 06, 2009

TWD---French Pear Tart

This week, to start off the new year, our Tuesday's With Dorie recipe from Baking From My Home To Yours was chosen by none other than Dorie Greenspan!  How cool is that?!  Not to mention, she picked a GREAT recipe.  Do you wonder if it was hard for her decide?  I can't wait to check out her blog post about the tart!  You can get the recipe on her link above, but I say it pretty much every week, go buy a copy of the book, if you don't have it!  It's great!  (Thanks, Dorie!)

I've never really made a tart like this before.  I've made lots of pies and galettes and such, but this was my first "tart".  Needless to say, I don't own a tart pan.  And I looked at a few places in our "smallish" city here and did not find one.  So, I made a freeform tart.  I am/was actually pretty proud of how it turned out!

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I drew little lines on the back of the parchment paper at 9 inches in diameter and formed the dough around the "circle"  I tried to flute the edges a little with a cookie cutter, but you can't really tell.  There is also a bit of a ridge.  This picture is after I'd spread the almond cream on the prebaked crust.  Last time we prebaked a crust, for the Thanksgiving Twofer Pie, I thought the crust was overbaked, as did lots of others.  And I was very tempted to not prebake this crust for fear that it would also be overbaked.  Darn it all, I prebaked it anyway, and well, I also think this one is overbaked.   Bummer!  So, I probably just won't prebake crusts from the book anymore, or maybe only half the suggested time.  Now, that said, it didn't stop me from eating this tart!

The almond cream was/is delicious (I have about 1/3 of it left, what to do?!).  I even blanched, skinned, slightly toasted and ground my own almonds, never would have done that in the past!  And for the almond cream I used 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1/2 teaspoon almond extract.  Oh, I also added ground blanched almonds to the sweet tart dough (page 444 of the book).  This crust and tart really was quite simple, though it almost seemed like it wouldn't be just reading the recipe.  The recipe called for three pears.  Well, I must have found the world's largest pears----

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So after slicing one and rubbing it with a little fresh lemon (I opted not to poach the pears in a sugar bath.), but I took the slices from one of the three giant pears and laid it out on the pear and decided that one would do!

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Here's the tart out of the oven--a little too dark of crust for my liking, maybe it wouldn't have been so dark had it been in a tart pan, I'll betcha!

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Having not seen anyone else's tarts and there is no picture of this one in the baking book, I have no idea if this looks right, but I do know it tasted great, so I don't really care how "right" it is.

A little sprinkling of powdered sugar and my perfect tart plate---

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Still, just not quite enough, though pretty and tasty.

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So this is how we served it.

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MMMMMM, a little vanilla ice cream and caramel topping.  Now we're talking.  Go make a French tart, you'll feel all sophisticated and you'll have  a simple, yummy dessert to go with it! ; )  Great choice, Dorie, as I probably would have never picked this recipe!   Thanks.

Stay tuned for my next post, I'm branching out.....

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love that you did this without a tart pan. I'm going to try this if I want to cut the recipe in half - no need to buy mini-tart pans!

Lisa Ernst said...

This looks wonderful. I've never made a tart like this before, but after seeing your pics, I'm tempted to give it a try. Of course, the ice cream and caramel sauce are the perfect finishing touches!

Becky said...

How is it your family is not round and plump? You bake some of the most delicious looking food. The caramel suace over it sealed the deal, yum!

Nancy/n.o.e said...

Your free form tart turned out so well! That really was a huge pear; I like the way you fanned it. All of my tasters like the tart with ice cream; I didn't think of caramel sauce!
Nancy

What's for Supper? said...

The caramel and ice cream look so good. What a great idea! Next time.

Clumbsy Cookie said...

You did a great job Katrina for not having a proper pan! I love those kind of tarts with that almond cream. In fact I'm crazy about almond cream, I could eat it raw (you know I have don't you?. That's the kind of cream they put on fancy almond croissants, so you can make little puff pastry pockets with them, it will taste similar, or just make another little tart (it's great with apples too!

chocolatechic said...

Gorgeous, and way to go on making do.


Brilliant

Maria said...

Lovely, lovely, lovely!!

Cathy said...

It looks beautiful -- I love how you fanned the pears! Awesome job with the freeform tart! I had huge problems with overbaking the Twofer Pie crust, but did not have overbaking problems with this one, so maybe the pan did make a difference in that respect. Love how you served this -- it looks delicious!

vibi said...

Very French looking indeed, Katrina! ...and you've made it "à la mode" on top of it! How decadent!

Danielle said...

This was one of the best recipes I think I have made so far!
Carmel and ice cream what a great sugar rush why didnt I think of that!

Pamela said...

You see...this is how I would've eaten it, too. Caramel and ice cream. Thus...no tart for me. Your pics are great, though! I love the free form tart. Great job.

The Peanut Butter Boy said...

That looks surprisingly simple but that pear really dwarfs the size of the tart! No need for a pan either, that's pretty sweet, wouldn't have thought it would turn out so well.

Anonymous said...

Love, love, love your free form tart. Looks yummy!

KimiSue said...

My boys are really enjoying pears lately. I'm going to try this.

Anonymous said...

A free-form tart! Get back with your bad self, this is awesome.

Anonymous said...

Dang. Super impressed by your free form tart - that slice looks incredible!

Anonymous said...

Oh, I love how you did this and no messing around with those tart pan edges...I like your way a whole lot...it looks wonderful and really shows off the fruit. Beautiful job.

Unknown said...

I love the free-form tart! Caramel sauce...that just takes it to another level. Yum...

Jaime said...

i love how you fanned your pears out!! and i'm so impressed you made a free form tart! but what i love most is how you served it - yum! :)

TeaLady said...

OOHH!!! Very nice. Ice cream and caramel. Yummy!!! Looks like it turned out just fine to me.

Leslie said...

Umm, could you post a drool warning the next time you elevate a tart to new heights by adding ice cream and caramel?? I think yours turnout amazingly good! I love it that you improvised a free form pan-less tart!

Rachel said...

That is a perfect tart plate! And a perfect tart!! Great job

Jules Someone said...

That was just lovely looking! Nice job improvising!

Jennifer said...

You are so creative! I never would have thought to do it freeform. Instead I searched high and low for a tart pan!

CB said...

How cute is your free form tart?!! Way to improvise! I am totally doing the ice cream caramel thing next time I bake this tart. Trust me. There *will* be a next time! Glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Clara @ iheartfood4thought

Susan @ SGCC said...

Very resourceful! Your tart looks fabulously rustic and very pretty. Great minds must think alike. I loved mine with caramel sauce too. Wish I had thought of the ice cream! ;)

kimberly salem said...

that's so awesome! i wouldn't have even thought to make it freeform. it looks delicious:)

Megan said...

A girl after my own heart - the tart dressed to a "T", with ice cream and caramel. Sigh.

Can I live at your house? :)

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