Spiced Vanilla Pear Tart With Almond Whipped Cream Food

SPICED VANILLA PEAR TART WITH ALMOND WHIPPED CREAM

Steps:

• Press pie crust firmly and up the sides of a 10-inch tart baking pan or a 9 inch pie plate. Line crust with parchment paper or aluminum foil and add pie weight or dried beans. Bake for 8 minutes. Remove parchment paper and pie weights. Bake for another 6 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely while you prepare the filling. Peel, core and chop 3 medium-sized Comice pears, set aside. Combine 1 cup sour cream and 3/4 cup half and half in a large bowl; beat until smooth. Whisk in pudding mix. Add 2 Tbsp. maple syrup, continuing to beat. Gently fold in the chopped pears. Pour the pudding mixture into prepared pie crust. Cover; refrigerate several hours (at least 3) or overnight. Just before serving, preheat broiler. Peel the final pear, and cut into thin slices. Arrange in a pattern in the center of the pudding mixture. Combine 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1/4 tsp. ginger, 1/4 tsp. cinnamon and 1/8 tsp. cloves in a small bowl. Sprinkle evenly over pears. Rim the edges of the tart with the 1/3 cup of chopped pecans. Broil 4 to 6 minutes or just until the sugar is melted and begins to crystalize, watching carefully not to burn the sugar. Prepare the whipped topping: Add 1 cup heavy cream, 1 1/2 tsp. almond extract and 1 Tbsp confectioners sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer and beat on low. Gradually increase the speed until soft peaks begin to form. Serve the pear tart immediately with a dollop of whipped cream and a sprig of mint, if desired. TIP: To easily peel pears, submerge the pears in a large pot of boiling water for about 10-15 seconds then place into a large bowl of ice cold water. Using your fingers, gently rub the pear skin from each pear.

ALMOND TORTE WITH PEARS AND WHIPPED CREAM

Steps:

• Make cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor, blend almonds and cornstarch until finely ground, about 15 seconds. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat egg yolks, sugar, lemon zest, vanilla, and salt until light and fluffy, 4 to 5 minutes. Gently fold in almond mixture. In another large bowl, whisk egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold one-third the whites into almond mixture; fold almond mixture into remaining whites just until combined. Pour batter into a 9-inch springform pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool in pan.
• Make pears and topping: In a large saucepan, bring 4 cups water, 3/4 cup sugar, cinnamon, and lemon zest to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, add pears, and cover pan with a piece of parchment to keep pears submerged. Cook until pears are tender when pierced with a paring knife, about 15 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer to a plate. Bring liquid to a boil and reduce until thick and syrupy, 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool to room temperature.
• In a large bowl, whisk heavy cream until soft peaks form. Whisk in sour cream and 2 tablespoons sugar; continue to whisk until soft peaks return. Serve cake with pears, syrup, and whipped cream.

PEAR AND ALMOND CREAM TART

Steps:

• To make the shortcrust, add the flour, butter in a food processor and pulse it until the butter and the four resemble cornmeal. Add the water and pulse a few more times until the dough comes together. Wrap the dough up in plastic wrap and refrigerate it until you're ready to use it.
• Roll out the pastry dough into a thin circle and use it to line a 9 inch tart pan or pie pan.
• Preheat the oven to 375 F degrees and place a baking sheet in the oven.
• In a food processor add the blanched almonds and pulse until they are finely ground. Add the butter and process again until they get creamy, add sugar, the egg and the egg white, almond extract and mix well.
• Pour the almond cream into the pastry shell.
• The pears need to be pealed and cut in half, then remove the cores and rub them with the lemon juice. With the pear halves cut side down on a cutting board, slice them thinly crosswise.
• Press down on the top of the slices to fan out the pear slices. Use a spatula to transfer the pear to the tart as you see in the picture below. Repeat with remaining pear halves.
• Place the tart pan on the hot baking sheet and bake it for about 50 to 55 minutes, make sure the almond filling is set and golden brown.
• In a small sauce pan heat the water or brandy and jam, then use this to brush the top of the hot tart to glaze it.
• Serve at room temperature.

VANILLA-SPICED CARAMEL AND PEAR TART

Steps:

• For crust:
• Roll out pastry to 12-inch square and trim off corners, forming slightly rounded crust. (If using all-butter puff pastry, roll out to 12-inch round.) Transfer pastry to 10-inch-diameter springform pan, pressing pastry firmly onto bottom and 1 to 1 1/2 inches up sides of pan. Freeze crust until firm, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and keep frozen.
• For pears:
• Melt butter in heavy large skillet over low heat. Add sugar and next 4 ingredients. Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean; add bean. Increase heat to medium-high and cook, stirring until sugar melts and turns brown (color of peanut butter), about 3 minutes. Reduce heat to medium; add pears, rounded side down. Cook until pears are almost tender, turning and moving skillet around occasionally to ensure even cooking, 10 to 15 minutes, depending on ripeness of pears. Carefully turn pears over; continue to cook until pears are very tender, about 10 minutes longer. Remove skillet from heat; cool pears in skillet with spices (pears will release juice while cooling).
• For filling:
• Melt butter in small saucepan over low heat. Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean; add bean. Add cinnamon, star anise, and cloves. Increase heat to medium; cook until butter is golden (watch to avoid burning), 3 to 4 minutes. Remove vanilla bean and spices from butter; discard. Whisk sugar, egg, and coarse salt in medium bowl. Whisk in flour. Gradually whisk browned butter into egg mixture. DO AHEAD: Pears and filling can be made 6 hours ahead. Cover separately; let stand at room temperature. Whisk filling before using.
• Position rack in center of oven; preheat to 400°F. Brush frozen crust with beaten egg white. Pour filling into crust; spread evenly over bottom of crust (filling will be very thin). Using slotted spatula, remove pears from skillet, allowing excess syrup to drain back into skillet; reserve syrup. Arrange pears, rounded side up, atop filling (about 9 around edge and 3 in center of pan).
• Bake tart until crust is deep golden and filling is set and brown at edges, about 1 hour. Run small knife around sides of pan to loosen tart. Release pan sides. Transfer tart to platter. Let stand, uncovered, at room temperature to cool slightly until just warm.
• Just before serving, boil syrup in skillet until reduced to generous 1/3 cup, 1 to 2 minutes. Discard spices. Drizzle syrup over pears. Serve tart slightly warm.

ALMOND-PEAR CREAM CHEESE TORTE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 425°F.
• Beat butter and 1/3 cup sugar in small bowl with mixer until light and fluffy. Add flour; mix well. Press onto bottom and 1 inch up side of 9-inch springform pan.
• Beat cream cheese and 1/3 cup of the remaining sugar in same bowl with mixer until blended. Add egg and vanilla; mix well. Spread onto bottom of crust. Mix remaining sugar and cinnamon until blended. Add to pears in large bowl; toss to coat. Arrange over cream cheese layer; top with nuts. Bake 10 min.
• Reduce temperature to 375°F; bake torte 25 min. or until center is set. Cool completely. Run knife around rim of pan to loosen torte. Remove rim. Refrigerate torte 3 hours.

SPICED PEAR TART

Steps:

• Poach the pears: Combine 2 cups/480 milliliters water, sugar, vanilla extract and star anise pods in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat to low. Place the pears in the poaching liquid and cover with a lid. Keep just below a simmer and cook until the pears are tender, about 40 minutes depending on the ripeness of the pears. Remove the pears from the liquid to a plate and cool completely. Slice each pear half crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Set aside.
• While the pears poach and cool, make the pastry: Trim a sheet of puff pastry to one 4 1/2-by-12 inch rectangle. From the remaining puff pastry, cut two 1-by-12-inch strips. Transfer rectangle and strips to a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.
• Using a pastry brush, brush the beaten egg in a thin 1-inch strip along both long edges of the puff pastry, then place the strips of puff pastry on top. (You should have a rectangle of puff pastry with a puff pastry border down each of the long sides.) Use the back of a chef's knife or the tines of a fork to gently press the strips of puff pastry into the rectangle. Prick the pastry all over with a fork, then refrigerate for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 325 degrees.
• Brush the puff pastry all over with egg wash, then line the center with parchment and fill with baking weights or dried beans. Bake for 20 minutes, turning halfway through. Remove the parchment and baking weights. Bake until golden brown, about 3 more minutes. As soon as you pull it out of the oven, trim the edges with a knife so the layers line up, if necessary. If the center has puffed up, gently prick with a fork or toothpick to release air. Allow to cool completely.
• While the pastry bakes and cools, make the pastry cream: Combine the milk, vanilla extract, and half the sugar (using 2 tablespoons/30 grams) in a pot. Bring to a simmer over medium-low. In a separate bowl, whisk together the remaining 2 tablespoons/30 grams sugar and the cornstarch, then whisk in the yolks. Whisking the eggs and cornstarch continuously, carefully add 1/4 cup of the hot milk mixture to the egg yolks, and whisk well to combine. Now, whisking the hot milk mixture in the pot continuously, add the egg yolks and cornstarch mixture to the pot. Continue whisking until it thickens. (It happens fast!) Immediately remove from the heat and whisk in the softened butter until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pastry cream. Allow to cool to room temperature.
• While pastry cream cools, make the glaze: Combine the pear purée, sugar and 2 tablespoons water in a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer until slightly reduced and glossy, about 3 minutes. Strain and chill.
• Transfer the puff pastry to a serving platter. Spread about 1 1/2 cups pastry cream down the center of the pastry shell. Place the sliced pear halves over the pastry cream in alternating directions. Brush each pear with a thick layer of pear glaze. Garnish any areas between the pears with toasted almonds. Dust the whole tart with confectioners' sugar just before serving.