Do you know my secret to a great dessert? The answer is Puff Pastry.  Puff pastry is the best thing since sliced bread; I mean it. I always keep a box in my freezer. Sweet or savory, you can make so many dishes using puff pastry.

For my Puff Pastry Pear Tarts, you can use apples with maybe some caramel sauce, really just anything that’s in season or that looks good to you.

Steve loves pears, so that’s what I’m using here.

Start by using a box of frozen puff pastry and thawing it overnight in the fridge. You want to keep the dough cold.

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time for 4 tarts: 40 to 45 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
Yields: 8 servings (4 tarts)
Equipment: 4 rimmed baking sheet pans, parchment paper, chef’s knife, cutting board, large mixing bowl, 1 (1-quart) saucepan, pastry brush

Ingredients:
1 box of Puff Pastry, 2 sheets, thawed in the refrigerator and cold
All-purpose flour, for dusting
4 Bosc pears, peeled, cored, and sliced 1/8 to 1/4-inch thick
1 lemon
8 tablespoons (1 stick) of butter, unsalted
1/4 cup of light brown sugar; substitute dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon of chili powder (optional)
1/4 cup of fig jam
2 tablespoons of water
4 tablespoons of Turbinado sugar

Instructions:
The night before, transfer the puff pastry to the refrigerator to defrost, or leave it on the counter for about 1 1/2 hours.

Instructions for preparing the Puff Pastry:
Start by lining 4 rimmed baking sheet pans with parchment paper. Lay one sheet of the pastry out on a lightly floured board. The tri-folded pastry sheet has three equal parts. Cut directly down the center between the creases, forming two equal 5″ x 7.5″ rectangles. Refer to the pictures above.

Transfer the pastry sheet to the lined baking sheet. Create a border using a paring knife. Score (trace) a small rectangle on the puff pastry (refer to the picture above), leaving a 1-inch border. Be careful not to cut through the dough. The 1-inch border will puff up. Use a fork to dock small holes in the center. Transfer the puff pastry to the refrigerator. Repeat this, making 4 puff pastry tart shells.

Preheat oven to 400°F.
Instructions for preparing the Pears:

Peel, halve, and core the pears. Place pears, flat side down, on a cutting board and cut 1/8-inch-thick slices. Fill a large mixing bowl halfway with water. Cut a lemon in half and squeeze all the juice into the water. Toss the lemon remains into the water too. Transfer the sliced pears into the bowl of *acidulated water.

Shingle the pears as close together as possible; make sure they stay inside the border.

In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, melt 1 stick butter and chili powder (optional), then stir in 1/4 cup of light brown sugar; stir to combine.

Use a pastry brush and brush the sugar-butter mixture over all the pears.

Place two baking sheets with the puff pastry pear tarts on the center rack; keep the other two trays of prepared tarts in the fridge, ready when the first two come out of the oven. This will ensure they bake evenly. Now, if you’re lucky enough to have dual ovens, you can bake all 4 tarts at the same time. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the crust is a deep golden brown and the pears are tender. Once the first two tarts come out of the oven, replace them with the two from the fridge.

While the tarts bake, melt 1/2 cup fig jam with 2 tablespoons of water in a small saucepan over low heat; stir to combine.

When the tarts come out of the oven, brush the fig jam over all the pears and the edges. Finally, sprinkle with Turbinado sugar.

That’s all there is to it. I’d say that was pretty easy. Serve with a dollop of sweetened whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

There you have it, my Puff Pastry Pear Tarts.

Notes:
1) *Acidulated water is water to which an acid is added, often lemon juice.

2) Linda Lou Hamel is not a nutritionist or dietitian, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and nutritional value matter to you, I recommend running the ingredients through your preferred online nutritional calculator. Calories and values can vary, depending on the brands you choose.

https://lindalouhamel.com/2015/02/02/you-scream-i-scream-we-all-scream-for-homemade-ice-cream/