With the holidays upon us, I decided to challenge myself to baking something different. I was looking through the latest issue of Cook’s Illustrated and I came across a beautiful French apple tart. The apple slices arranged in the shape of a beautiful blooming flour. At first glance, I thought to myself, this looks complicated.
A few hours later, I was looking in my fridge when my large bag of pears stared back at me demanding action. It was a toss up between making my easy poached pears and a pear tart, and I decided to try my hand at a pear tart. And while I’m at it, I could use some of my good fig preserves!
I’d like to think of my pear tart as the yummier cousin of the Cook’s Illustrated apple tart. Sorry, I’m biased toward pears. But I did end up using their no-fuss pie crust with some modification. Trust me, friends, you’ll want to know how to make this easy no-fuss crust, it will change your baking life!
So I did make my French pear tart recipe. The result? A total WIN! Absolute perfection in both presentation and taste! I know I’ll be making it again soon.
Step-by-step photos for this pear tart
(scroll down for the print-friendly recipe)
Position one oven rack to middle, and move the second rack to the very top slot. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a bowl, mix together flour, sugar and salt. Add melted butter and combine to form dough.
Transfer dough to a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. With your hands press dough down to spread on bottom and onto the rims of the pan.
Place in the oven on the middle rack and bake for 30 minutes, or until crust turns golden brown. When ready remove crust from oven and let sit to cool. Leave oven on.
Meanwhile, heat the fig preserves in microwave for about 40 seconds. Pour heated fig preserves through a mesh strainer to separate chunks from liquid.
Now, slice five pears into 1/2-inch slices, discarding core.
Heat 1 tbsp of butter in a large cast iron skillet. Add pear slices and 1 tbsp water. Cover and cook on medium heat until pears are slightly tender; about 3 minutes. Remove pears onto a large platter and let sit to cool.
Take the remaining three pears and cut them in the same manner. Now melt 2 tbsp of butter in previously used cast iron skillet. Add newly-sliced pears, chunks of fig reserves, and salt. Cook on medium heat, covered, for ten minutes; stir occasionally until pears are very tender. Take a potato masher and mash the pears and fig reserves into a puree. Let cook for another 5-7 minutes or until pureed mixture reduces and thickens.
Transfer pear-fig puree onto the now cooled crust; spread evenly.
Now, take the cooled pear slices and begin to assemble them in layered circles, starting at the outer edges.
Place tart on the middle rack of the oven. Bake in 350 degree F-heated oven for 30 minutes.
Warm up the strained liquid fig preserves for 20 seconds in the microwave.When tart is ready, remove from oven and brush surface of the pears evenly with the warmed fig liquid.
Return to oven and place on the top rack. Broil very briefly; watching carefully until pears gain a nice caramelized look.
Remove from oven and let cool for at least 1 1/2 hours before serving.
When ready, place the bottom of the tart pan on a wide can of food. Hold the ring part of the pan and carefully slide it downwards.
Cut pear fig tart into eight slices and serve. Enjoy!
French Pear Tart
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: serves up to 12
Description
This French pear tart recipe is a total WIN! Absolute perfection in both presentation and taste!
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 5 tbsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 12 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
Filling
- 8 large pears, washed
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 tbsp water
- 3/4 cup fig preserves
- 1/4 tsp salt
Instructions
- Position one oven rack to middle, and move the second rack to the top slot.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a bowl, mix together flour, sugar and salt. Add melted butter and combine to form dough.
- Transfer dough to a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. With your hands press dough down to spread on bottom and onto the rims of the pan.
- Place in the oven on the middle rack and bake for 30 minutes, or until crust turns golden brown. When ready remove crust from oven and let sit to cool. Leave oven on.
- Meanwhile, heat the fig preserves in microwave for about 40 seconds. Pour heated fig preserves through a mesh strainer to separate chunks from liquid.
- Now, slice five pears into 1/2-inch slices, discarding core.
- Heat 1 tbsp of butter in a large cast iron skillet. Add pear slices and 1 tbsp water. Cover and cook on medium heat until pears are slightly tender; about 3 minutes.
- Remove pears onto a large platter and let sit to cool.
- Take the remaining three pears and cut them in the same manner.
- Now melt 2 tbsp of butter in previously used cast iron skillet. Add newly-sliced pears, chunks of fig reserves, and salt. Cook on medium heat, covered, for ten minutes; stir occasionally until pears are very tender.
- Take a potato masher and mash the pears and fig reserves into a puree. Let cook for another 5-7 minutes or until pureed mixture reduces and thickens.
- Transfer pear-fig puree onto the now cooled crust; spread evenly.
- Now, take the cooled pear slices and begin to assemble them in layered circles, starting at the outer edges (see photo).
- Place tart on the middle rack of the oven. Bake in 350 degree F-heated oven for 30 minutes.
- Warm up the strained liquid fig preserves for 20 seconds in the microwave.
- When tart is ready, remove from oven and brush surface of the pears evenly with the warmed fig liquid.
- Return to oven and place on the top rack. Broil very briefly; watching carefully until pears gain a nice caramelized look.
- Remove from oven and let cool for at least 1 1/2 hours before serving.
- When ready, place the bottom of the tart pan on a wide can of food. Hold the ring part of the pan and carefully slide it downwards (see photo).
- Cut pear fig tart into eight slices and serve. Enjoy!
Notes
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- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 60 mins
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: French
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Could this tart be made in a 9″ springform pan?
It’s possible, Shellie. But I am not sure you’ll get the same look.
I added some lemon while sautéing and didn’t have fig jam. Still came out beautifully. I’ve made it twice now.
Wonderful, Christina! So glad you enjoyed it!
The French pear tart is spectacular and easy! My daughter now wants it for her seventh birthday. The 9″ tart won’t be enough, though. I have an 11″ quiche dish– any ideas for adapting/ stretching your recipe?
Hi Marc! That’s great to hear. Unfortunately, I don’t have a recommendation for an 11-inch option for this particular tart. But I found a 11-inch apple tart recipe–>http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/french-apple-tart1 I’m thinking you could use the tart portion of the recipe, and the filling from my pear tart recipe, perhaps increasing the amount of pears a bit…you’ll have to eyeball a little, but I think it might just work. OR make two French Pear Tarts using the recipe; you’ll probably have more than you need, but that means awesome breakfast the next day! Enjoy!
Do you grease the tart pan? Thanks!
It wouldn’t hurt Bridget, but I didn’t.
I just found this recipe yesterday, happened to have a bowl of perfectly ripe pears from our tree, and made it. Incredible! Thank you for what will become a staple dessert in our family.
Debbe, thank you so much for stopping by! I am so glad to hear you enjoyed this pear tart. It’s a favorite around here!
I followed this recipe as written. I had never before made a tart. It turned out perfectly, and I received rave reviews.
Michael, this is wonderful to hear! This tart is a favorite here in my household. I’m not a huge baker, but I make a few tried-n-true things, this is def. one of them. Glad you enjoyed it!
Hi! Will this suffer terribly if I replace the butter with margarine? I need to make this non-dairy…
Looks incredible!
Sara, so sorry, I don’t know how your comment slipped through the cracks. I have not tried it with margarine, but I’m pretty sure it should be fine. Be sure to use stick margarine rather than margarine from a tub. Stick margarine’s consistency is closer to butter. Let me know how it works out!
I made this yesterday using dairy and gluten free sunflower spread. I don’t know if using the spread changed the taste or texture from the original recipe, but WOW! It tasted great. I did have to make other substitutes from my cupboard. I used self-raising flour (by mistake), added 2 tsp ground ginger to the base mix (if you like a ginger kick), used a mixture of 1 tbsp soft brown, 2 tbsp Demerara and 3 tbsp golden granulated sugar and used 2-3 tbsp of Rhubarb and Ginger jam, instead of the fig preserves. I also left out the salt. I got a light textured, biscuit-like base, that was golden in colour and I found Suzy’s recipe easy to follow. I wasn’t disappointed with the finished tart and I’ll definately make it again, maybe try a chocolate crust next time.
Hi Lynne! Thank you for giving this tart a try. It’s a favorite over here. And thanks for sharing your adaptation. Sounds like it all worked out well!
I did make this one and it is yummy!
I remember you made this around the holidays!
Looks amazing
Thank you, Judy!
Suzy, your pear tart looks mouthwateringly delicious. I really must get out of my apple rut and try baking with pears for a change. Great recipe!
Thank you, Linda! I do enjoy this pear tart a lot. Let me know if you ever try it.
Really?! Sorry that was harder than expected. Can’t wait to hear how it turns out for you, Agnes. For anyone else looking for a subsitute to fig preserves/jam, I would suggest trying an orange marmalade. I think that would go well also.
Suzy, I plan on making this for Christmas but I have to let you know, I had to go to 4 stores before located Fig Preserves…whew! I’ll post a picture if it turns out.
Suzy:
What a gorgeous, mouthwatering French pear tart… With these detailed instructions, anyone can make this successfully.
I wish you a wonderful (belated) birthday.
You have a beautiful blog — full of amazing recipes. Keep up the great work!
Denise! Thanks tons for stopping in. Your words mean so much to me. BTW, you and I share a favorite verse, ” I can do anything through Him.” 🙂
I don’t bake with pears often enough. This tart is calling my French heritage bite by bite. I know what you mean about November and December. I struggle with it being summer and my American genes want it to be dark at 5pm and cold – not summer. 🙂
O that’s right! It’s like summer time where you live! I am so used to this time of the year being cold and snowy; it’s so hard to imagine a non-white Christmas! This pear tart really surprised me. It was not too hard at all, and we loved it!
This looks amazing and really not all that much work for the pizazz factor. Yum.
Beth Ann! My new friend! So glad you stopped in 🙂 You’re so right, this tart was not that much work. A few steps to a great result! hugs.
Good thing this pear tart is on the healthier side. Well, I mean if you don’t count the butter in the crust 🙂
Baking with butter is the best:)