Pear tarte Tatin brings together warm pears loaded with butter and cinnamon in a shortcrust pastry. This dessert is just amazing! Tarte Tatin is the famous upside-down caramelized tart. Traditionally it is filled with apples, but adding other fruits makes it as delicious as the original one. Like you can see, I used sweet pears and I made shortcrust pastry from scratch instead of using puff pastry dough.
Why is it called tarte Tatin? Well, according to the legend, the tarte Tatin has been made by mistake by one of the Tatin sisters. After leaving the apples for too long on the stove, she thought they burnt. In order to save them, she covered them with pastry and baked the tart anyway. Guess what was the result. Yes, a decadent, fabulous, sticky, sweet dessert that everyone loves still today. So, a big thank you sisters Tatin for the “mistake”.
In one of my previous recipes, I baked a banana tarte Tatin by Gordon Ramsey‘s recipe. Oh, wow, that was an explosion of flavours. It was filled with bananas, rich in butter and caramel and spiced with pink pepper. A tarte Tatin for the modern days.
This time I made it more rustic, but no less tasty. I used Concorde pears because they keep the shape after being cooked and they are perfect for tarts. I love also Williams pears. The shortcrust pastry is also perfect if you are making the tart one day ahead. The puff pastry will soak all the juices and it will become sloppy. So use puff pastry if you are going to serve it on the same day.
You can also check some other shortcrust pastry recipes of mine, such as carrot tart, a cute Easter chick deviled-egg tart or a celery marroni tart.
However, try to make this pear tarte Tatin and let me know what you think about it, how it tastes and what other fruits you would use. This recipe requires 30 minutes extra for the dough to rest and an ovenproof pan.
Ingredients for a pear tarte Tatin (ca Ø 20 cm):
- 225g flour
- pinch of salt
- 50 g sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla sugar
- 150 g butter (cold, diced)
- 1 egg (beaten)
- 2 pears (Williams, Concord)
- 1 Tbsp coconut sugar (or any you like)
- 1 Tbsp honey
- 2 Tbsp butter (ca 40 g)
- 2 tsp cinnamon
Making shortcrust pastry is easy. Try to make it quick and not knead it too long or the heat from your hands will melt the butter. So, be confident and do it fast. Sieve the flour into a larger bowl, add the salt, sugar, vanilla and cold butter. Now, mix all together using your hands. Simply keep pinching the butter between your fingers until you get a fine crumbly mixture. You can also use the dough hooks if you prefer.
Furthermore, add the beaten egg and amalgamate well all together until you get a firm dough. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured working surface and gently knead it for 30 seconds. Remember to be quick. There is no need to knead too much. Then sprinkle it with some flour and wrap it in some transparent food foil. Put in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to rest.
Pear soaked in caramel
Next, wash and peel the pears. Then halve them and remove the core. Cut them lengthwise into wedges. I managed to use 11 wedges (the rest we ate as a snack heheh). Take an ovenproof pan and add the sugar and honey. Once they start melting and they get that nice caramel colour, stir in the butter.
When it starts forming bubbles, add the pear wedges, nicely arranged around the pan. Reduce heat. Cook them for about 5-8 minutes and keep spooning the caramel mixture over them.
Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Take the shortcrust pastry out of the fridge and roll it out in a round shape about 5mm thick. Try to make it a little larger than the pan. If the pan has a diameter of 20 cm, you should make a dough with a diameter of 24 cm. Why? Check the following paragraph.
Lay the dough over the caramelized pears and nicely tuck in the edges around the fruits, down the walls of your pan (careful, the pan is hot). This will form a nice wall around the pears when flipped around and at the same time, it will keep all the juices and caramel inside the tart.
Using a fork, pierce the dough a couple of times and then place it in the oven for about 20 minutes or until golden brown. After that, let it rest for about 10 minutes. Furthermore, place a plate on top of the pan and with a quick move flip them around so the plate will be at the bottom. The tart will nicely slide out of the pan and should land on the plate “upside-down”.
Serve the pear tarte Tatin warm or cold. But in my opinion, a warm tart is the best! I love to add some sour cream to this delicious dessert. It goes just perfectly with any tart, but especially with the pear tarte Tatin.
Enjoy!
PS
If you like the recipe, if you make the recipe or if you have any new ideas how to improve or change it, let me know in the comments section below or alternatively share your photos and reactions with me on Instagram (@Passionspoon), Facebook or Twitter (@PassionSpoon1). Simply use the hashtag #passionspoonrecipes in your posts. I would love to see them! (wink)
