Our former intern and baking enthusiast, Paris Starn, whipped up this sweet and delicious comice pear tart that's so tasty, we had to share.

Comice Pear Tart

Tart Shell:
1 ⅓ cups of flour
2 tablespoons of sugar
¼ teaspoon of salt
1 stick of cold butter
1 egg yolk
1 ½-2 tablespoons of ice water

For Poaching:
1 cup of dry white wine
2 over-ripened comice pears
¾ cup of sugar
5-6 ripe comice pears

Pastry Cream:
3 large egg yolks
1 ½ tablespoons of cornstarch
1 vanilla bean
½ tablespoon of unsalted butter
¼ cup of heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon of sugar

Glaze:
¼ ounce envelope of unflavored gelatin

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

2. Mix the flour, sugar, and salt together in a large bowl. Cut butter into small pieces and blend in with hands (crumbling the butter), a pastry cutter, or a food processor until the dough has small crumbs throughout. Mix the egg yolk with 1 ½ tablespoons of water; drizzle over the dough and mix until thoroughly distributed (no longer than that). Press the crumbs together. If they don’t hold, add the rest of the water. Press the crumbs into a rectangular tart shell, or 6 mini tart shells. Poke holes into the bottom of the crust and place the crust in the fridge for 30 minutes.

3. Place tinfoil over the tart shells and lay pie weights on top. Put shell in preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes. Remove tin foil and pie weights and bake for an additional 10-18 minutes.

4. Peel the ripe pears (leaving the stems on) and core them, making sure to take out all the seeds. Pour the wine into a 4-quart pot. Put a strainer over the wine and grate the pears (including skin) into the strainer. Mush the pear against the strainer to squeeze out all juices, and mush through some of the pear pieces. When the juice is all gone, pour the pear juice and the wine back into the measuring cup. It should be close to 2 cups of liquid. If it's not, add water to make it 2 cups.

5. Pour the liquids back into the pot and add sugar. Turn on the heat to medium and let all the sugar dissolve, bringing the mixture up to a simmer (be careful that it doesn't boil). Add the pears and cover, taking the cover off every five minutes to turn the pears. Repeat until all the pears are poached and softened (about 10-20 minutes). Turn off the heat, take out the pears, and put them in a glass baking dish.

6. Pour the leftover pear juice into a 2-cup measure (you should have 1 ¼-1 ½ cups). Whisk egg yolks and cornstarch in a heavy-bottomed pot. Scrape out vanilla bean seeds and add to the mixture. Pour in 1 cup of the pear juices and whisk again. Place the pot over medium heat and bring to a boil for 2 minutes. Remove the pot from the stove and transfer the cream into a bowl. Cover with Saran Wrap and place in the fridge.

7. Whip heavy cream and sugar together until stiff peaks form. Fold in to the cooled pastry cream until combined.

8. Take 1 tablespoon of the pear juice (from the glass baking dish with the poached pears in it) and mix with the gelatin. Take ⅓ of a cup of the rest of the juice (add water, if you're short) and heat for 45 seconds in the microwave. Mix the hot pear juices into the gelatin. Let the gelatin sit until thickened.

9. Remove cooled crust from the sides of the tart pan. Add pastry cream. Brush the pastry cream with gelatin. Add the pears on top of the pastry filling and brush with more gelatin. Cut and enjoy!


FILED UNDER: just eat it , paris starn , mini martha , baking , tart , dessert