I found this recipe many years ago on a website. Rarely have I fallen so in love with a dessert so much. Over the years, I’ve definitely tweaked it, so much that it’s now my own version and I can’t remember the original recipe’s doses.
It’s truly a delicious treat!
Pear and Chocolate Tart
- Preparation time: 40 minutes + baking
- Ingredients for a 26 cm pan
- Difficulty: Average difficult recipe
- Ingredients
- For the short pastry:
- 125 grams of butter
- 100 grams of superfine sugar
- 1 egg
- 200 grams of flour
- 15 grams of cocoa powder
- 50 grams of hazelnut flour
- For the pears:
- 5 Kaiser pears
- Half a vanilla pod
- 400 ml of water
- 200 grams of sugar
- 50 ml of rum
- For the chocolate filling:
- 230 grams of dark chocolate
- 100 grams of butter
- 70 grams of sugar
- 1 egg
- 3 egg yolks
- Instructions
- Cook the pears: in a large saucepan put the water, sugar, and vanilla and bring to a boil. Add the peeled and quartered pears and cook for ten minutes over high heat. Turn off the heat and let it cool. As soon as the mixture reaches the room temperature, add the rum.
- For the pastry, mix the butter and the sugar, add the egg, and then the other ingredients. Mix until smooth and non-sticky. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
- Take the pastry and roll it out. Line a greased and floured cake pan and bake blind for fifteen minutes.
- Meanwhile, prepare the filling by melting the chocolate and butter in a bain-marie. Let the mixture cool. In a bowl, whisk the egg and egg yolks with the sugar until fluffy and pale in color. Then add the melted chocolate and butter and continue mixing until smooth.
- Drain the pears from the syrup and score them.
- Remove from the oven and fill the tart with the chocolate mixture on the bottom, and then arrange the pears, with the rounded side facing up, on top.
- Bake in the oven for another twenty-five minutes.
- Reduce the pear cooking syrup over the heat until it becomes viscous. Use a brush to glaze the tart filling.
Tips to ensure the success of the dish:
- I recommend using good-quality dark chocolate.
- The blind baking should be done with a sheet of parchment paper placed on top and weight (to ensure it doesn’t swell) created with ceramic balls or dried beans.
- When adding the pears, discard as much of the cooking syrup as possible.
- The timing of cooking in the oven is indicative because each oven cooks differently.
