Le trio gagnant – Tarte aux poires et amandes avec pepites de chocolat
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Living in the US is not always easy to find exactly the right molds, the molds you’ve seen in France at your friends’ house and that you did not want to buy and put in your suitcase to travel accross the Atlantic, thinking I’m sure I can find it over there. Unfortunately, sometimes, those molds are very difficult to find…or quite expensive. The good thing is I wanted this rectangular mold for a while, and when I decide I want a utensil for the kitchen, I have very low tolerance for waiting. So after looking in the regular stores, I decided to go to “Sur la Table” and that’s where I found it, I was so excited that I bought two of them.

My favorites are desserts that combine pears with chocolate and almonds, it’s the perfect trio of flavors. I think pear is like banana in terms of great match with chocolate. I have used the same ingredients in crumbles and it’s a pure delight. Eventhough I prefer from far salty dishes than desserts, this tart is irresistible even for non-sweet tooth people.

A little trick for the crust ingredients, the butter is always half of the flour quantity. You can also substitute an egg to water, but I prefer to use water, the crust gets softer.

I used a tbs of rapadura, which is a very flavorful sugar cane form of sweetener, the taste can be quite strong so you can mix it with brown sugar.

Ingredients for 4

The crust

  • 200 g flour
  • 100 g butter or vegetable margarine
  • 2 tbs sugar
  • 2 tbs water

The tart

  • 2 large pears
  • 1 egg
  • 1/3 cup heavy cream
  • 1/2 cup milk – I used almond milk instead
  • 3 1/2 tbs brown sugar
  • 3 tbs almond meal
  • 1/2 tsp almond extract
  • 1 handful chocolate chips

Preparation

To make the crust, place flour in a container or flat surface, add sugar to the flour, add soft butter (previously left at room temperature for 1/2 hr), mix with the tips of your finger to turn it into a grainy mixture. Add water and mix very shortly to turn the mixture into a consistent dough. Do not knead for too long or the dough will be impossible to manipulate later and will break. We call this crust in France, pâte brisée and is used in many tart base crusts. Wrap in a plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for about 1/2 hr.

with a rolling pin, spread the dough into a 3 mm thick sheet. Butter a tart or pie mold, then place dough into the mold.

Peel and cut the pears in slices.

In a mixing bowl, add egg, sugar, cream, milk, almond meal, almond extract. Mix well to combine all ingredients and make it a nice smooth mixture.

Place pear slices on top of the spreaded dough. Add egg mixture. At the end, add chocolate chips all over the tart.

Cook in a preheated oven at 370F for about 30 to 40 min, or until the tart is cooked and the crust in lightly browned in the bottom.

It can be served with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream