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If you want an eye-pleasing dessert, then pears are sure to win every time. Either in their natural form or sliced, they just look lovely. While I have floated these tarts on a pool of caramel sauce, they are also good served for afternoon tea with a dollop of cream.
Ingredients
- 60g butter
- 1/4 cup (60g) caster sugar
- 1 egg
- 70g ground almonds
- 2 teaspoons flour
- 4 sheets (750g) butter puff pastry
- 3 pears, firm but ripe
Glaze
- 1/4 cup (60g) caster sugar
- 1/4 cup cold water
- Preheat the oven to 200°C. Grease a baking tray or line with baking paper.
- Beat butter and caster sugar until light and creamy. Add egg and mix well, then fold in ground almonds and flour.
- Cut 24 8cm circles from pastry using a cookie cutter. Take 12 of the circles and cut an inner circle of 6cm to make 12 rings. Brush the bottom of each pastry ring with a little water and place on a pastry circle to make 12 pastry cases. Put each case on the cold prepared baking tray.
- Place a heaped teaspoon of almond mixture in the middle of each case and smooth the top, taking care to keep filling inside the circle.
- Slice the pears lengthways, remove core and place 3 slices on top of the filling of each tart.
- Bake until the pastry is puffed and golden - approximately 10 minutes.
- While the tarts are cooking, make the glaze by combining the sugar and water in a small saucepan. Stir over a gentle heat to dissolve the sugar. Bring to the boil then set aside.
- Brush cooked tarts with glaze. To serve, place tarts on a platter drizzled with caramel sauce.
Caramel Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 cup (220g) sugar
- 1/4 cup (60ml) water
- 3/4 cup (180ml) cream
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Method
- Heat sugar and water together in a small saucepan, stirring constantly and brushing sides with a wet pastry brush to remove any sugar crystals.
- Bring to the boil and continue to boil without stirring until syrup starts to colour.
- Tilt pan slightly to spread colour through sugar and allow to deepen to a light amber.
- Immediately remove pan from heat and very carefully pour in cream - it will bubble and could spit so keep pan at arm's length. Stir in vanilla.
- Serve warm or cold. The sauce will keep in the refrigerator for 4 days.
- Makes 2 cups
Recipe courtesy of Helen Jackson's Kitchen
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Pear and almond tarts Comments
These sound fabulous.
Caryll