Get Your Chef On - Pears [Tart]

I'm excited to be joining in this month's GYCO challenge hosted by Julie at White Lights on Wednesday and Jen at Four Marrs and One Venus. This month's ingredient is pear and it was a challenge looking for a recipe that we would actually like.

With a little research I found a couple of recipes and also learned that pear season is just about over this month.  

I bought more pears than I needed for the pear tart recipe I found so I think I'll make a couple of desserts with the rest of the sweet pears I bought at the farmer's market.

If you follow me you know that I'm all about finding and making easy recipes, especially when it comes to dessert.   This pear tart is no exception.

This is a recipe I adapted from marthastewart.com and it was easier than I could have imagined. There are a couple of steps but nothing too time consuming or complicated.  In fact, this recipe took about 15 minutes for prep and I cleaned up while the tart baked.  EASY!!! and FAST!!!

If you need a sweet dessert for your super bowl party this recipe will be a nice addition to your table.  You can make it the day before leaving you more time for all your preparations.

Pear Tart
(adapted from www.marthastewart.com)
Ingredients

• 1 red bartlet pear
• 2 TBLS. fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 2 TBLS. vanilla extract
• 2 oz. cream cheese
• 4 TBLS. unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup AP flour, plus a little for dusting
• pinch of salt
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1-2 TBLS. turbinado sugar (sugar in the raw, or use brown sugar)
• Chopped walnuts or slivered almonds (optional)

Directions

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

1. Halve the pear lengthwise and leave the skin on;  remove the core and slice the pear in 1/4 inch slices.
2. Add the pear slices to a medium size bowl and add the lemon juice, vanilla and mix well with your hands until pear slices are well coated with the mixture.   Next add the pears into a strainer and place over the bowl allowing any liquid to drain off.  
3. In a food processor or with a hand mixer combine cream cheese and butter until blended.  Add the flour, 1/4 cup sugar and salt and mix just until combined.  Dough will be sticky.
4. Rub a little flour on your hands and turn out the dough on to the prepared baking sheet.   Gently pat dough out into a circle (dip fingers in flour if dough is too sticky) about 8 inches. The dough will be very thin.
5. See Photos Above -- Arrange the pear slices around the dough overlapping the slices until the dough is covered.
6. Sprinkle the turbinado or brown sugar over the pear slices and sprinkle with cinnamon.  Bake 25-35 minutes, just until golden brown.

This is optional, but you can sprinkle chopped nuts on top of each slice when serving. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream, a dollop of whipped cream, or plain Greek yogurt. Of course I made sure I tried each of these toppings for you just to be sure it tasted good. No worries, every topping was perfectly matched to the pear tart.

I really enjoyed a slice of tart as a late afternoon snack one day when I didn't have lunch.   I topped it with Greek yogurt and chopped nuts.

Turned out to be a nice late lunch rather than a snack!

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