Chocolate Pear Tart Recipe

My mother made this fabulously beautiful tart for Thanksgiving this year and I talked her into sharing the recipe. This is a wonderfully rich dessert that some would say tastes even better the next day. What I would say: “If you want to bake to impress, try out this recipe!”

Here is the recipe for my mother’s Chocolate Pear Tart:

A crisp, cookie-like hazelnut pie shell supports a rich chocolate custard. Carmel-glazed pear slices lie daintily over the surface, creating an all-dressed-up-with-places-to-go appearance.

Pastry
- 1 ½ cups Whole-Wheat Pastry Flour.
- 1/3 cup Roasted Hazelnuts (chopped)
- 2 tsp. Sugar
- ¼ tsp. Salt
- 6 Tb. Unsalted Butter
- 3 Tb Ice-cold Water.

Chocolate Custard Filling
- 6 oz. best quality Bittersweet Chocolate (melted)
- 2 whole Eggs plus 2 Egg Yolks
- ¼ cup Sugar
- 1 ½ cups Half & Half
- ½ tsp Vanilla

Glazed Pears
- 3 Ripe, but Firm Bosc Pears (peeled, cored, & cut lengthwise in quarters)
- 2 Tb. Unsalted Butter
- 1/3 cup Granulated Sugar
- ¼ tsp. Cinnamon
- Pinch of Allspice

Make chocolate custard the night before (or at least 4 hours before assembling pie).

Custard: Beat eggs until well blended. Beat sugar thoroughly into eggs to make a glossy mixture. Add melted chocolate and mix well. Stir half & half into chocolate mixture and cook in double boiler until custard thickens. Add vanilla. Chill custard.

Prepare pastry shell and bake at 375 until lightly golden. Cool to room temperature.

Make glazed pears: Melt butter in a frying pan and then stir in sugar. When sugar has dissolved, add spices and stir into syrup. Add pears, cut sides up. Simmer at medium-high heat, turning pears over as the syrup begins to caramelize. (Don’t overcook pears.) Cook until pears have given up some of their juices and sugar syrup becomes golden-brown. Cool pears in liquid to room temperature.

Spread custard smoothly in pie shell. Fan pear pieces around circumference of tart. Distribute pear liquid evenly over the top. Bake pie for 15 minutes at 375. Cool pie to room temperature before serving. A dollup of whipped cream adds elegance, but is not necessary.

This Chocolate Pear Tart serves 8-10 people and can be prepared the day before.

Enjoy!