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French Pear Tart Recipe

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French Pear Tart Recipe | The Mediterranean Dish. A delcious pear tart that always steals the show! It's much easier to make than it looks! See the tutorial and recipe from TheMediterraneanDish.com

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. I decided that I’ll just go ahead and try my hands 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!

French Pear Tart Recipe | The Mediterranean Dish. A delcious pear tart that always steals the show! It's much easier to make than it looks! See the tutorial and recipe from TheMediterraneanDish.com

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.

Pear Tart Homemade CrustPear Tart Homemade Crust

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.

Pear Tart Homemade Crust

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.

Pear Tart Homemade Crust

Meanwhile, heat the fig preserves in microwave for about 40 seconds. Pour heated fig preserves through a mesh strainer to separate chunks from liquid.

Pear Tart Recipe with Fig Jam

Now, slice five pears into 1/2-inch slices, discarding core.

Simple Pear Recipes

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.

Pear-Tart-Recipe-12

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.

Simple Dessert Recipes

Transfer pear-fig puree onto the now cooled crust; spread evenly.

Pear Recipes

Now, take the cooled pear slices and begin to assemble them in layered circles, starting at the outer edges.

Fruit Tarts Fruit Tarts Fruit Tarts

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.

Simple Dessert Recipes

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.

Simple Dessert Recipes

Cut pear fig tart into eight slices and serve. Enjoy!

Pear Tart Recipe

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Pear Tart Recipe

French Pear Tart

★★★★★

4.8 from 10 reviews
  • Author: The Mediterranean Dish
  • Prep Time: 15 mins
  • Cook Time: 1 min
  • Total Time: 16 minutes
  • Yield: 8 1x
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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

  1. Position one oven rack to middle, and move the second rack to the top slot.
  2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  3. In a bowl, mix together flour, sugar and salt. Add melted butter and combine to form dough.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. Meanwhile, heat the fig preserves in microwave for about 40 seconds. Pour heated fig preserves through a mesh strainer to separate chunks from liquid.
  7. Now, slice five pears into 1/2-inch slices, discarding core.
  8. 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.
  9. Remove pears onto a large platter and let sit to cool.
  10. Take the remaining three pears and cut them in the same manner.
  11. 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.
  12. 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.
  13. Transfer pear-fig puree onto the now cooled crust; spread evenly.
  14. Now, take the cooled pear slices and begin to assemble them in layered circles, starting at the outer edges (see photo).
  15. Place tart on the middle rack of the oven. Bake in 350 degree F-heated oven for 30 minutes.
  16. Warm up the strained liquid fig preserves for 20 seconds in the microwave.
  17. When tart is ready, remove from oven and brush surface of the pears evenly with the warmed fig liquid.
  18. Return to oven and place on the top rack. Broil very briefly; watching carefully until pears gain a nice caramelized look.
  19. Remove from oven and let cool for at least 1 1/2 hours before serving.
  20. 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).
  21. Cut pear fig tart into eight slices and serve. Enjoy!
  • Category: Dessert
  • Cuisine: French

 

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  1. This recipe is luscious – I substituted the fig jam with spiced crabapple jelly (cos that’s what I had) and the flavour of the pear puree was just fabulous. Fresh ripe peaches. Easy pastry. I’ll def be doing it again.

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  2. Awesome recipe. I have made this several times now and it always turns out wonderful.

    I would like to take this on a road trip, but wanted to know if it was possible to make the tart, then FREEZE it for travel? Would it thaw ok, ro would it end up being mush? Thanks for any advice you can offer!

    Reply

    • Hi Brian, thanks so much for sharing. If you can, maybe prepare ahead the pie crush and the filling separately. You can perhaps freeze them separately and then assemble the pie when you are ready? I have not made this pie and frozen the whole thing, and not sure how well it would thaw.

      Reply

  3. Wonderful recipe! THANK YOU!!! i follow your instructions to the T and it was perfect. I did not add any spices since I love the fresh pear and butter flavor that many times get hidden with heavy spices. Everyone loved this tart! Definitively I ill make it part of my family favorites. My only suggestion is to use the best quality butter you can find, preferably only pasteurized not double pasteurized. I use mexican or irish butter for best flavor.

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  4. I love this recipe and I love pears! Thank you for the detailed instructions and the pictures. So good…I’m what you call a lazy baker. For the crust, I used the leftover shortbread cookies from Christmas. Put them in the food processor along with some almonds and butter. Added cinnamon to the fig preserve along with a little maple syrup. Voila, so pretty. I don’t feel too bad having a slice with some coffee.

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  5. Thank you for the recipe. I used rose water for the water in simmering the pears. I added cardamom, ginger and cinnamon to the fig pear purée. It smells wonderful. I’ll let you know how it tastes. I think my tart pan was smaller than yours because I have extra pears and purée.

    Reply

  6. Hi, Thank you for this awesome recipe! I made it for Thanksgiving and it was a major hit! I added 2 tablespoons of brown sugar ( the pears were not very sweet) and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon to the purée and it was phenomenal. It is the perfect fall dessert! Your instructions, coupled with the photos were spot on. I may try to add some different spices next time, maybe cardamon.

    Reply

  8. Hi. I intend on making this for thanksgiving. I have all the ingredients but, I do have a question. Do you peel the skins off the pears or do you keep them on?

    Reply

  9. Hello, I was looking for recipes using my Asian Pears. Have you used them before? My two favorite things are pears and figs. I am going to make this using Asian Pears. Will let you know.

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  10. Good recipe. Prep time is ACTUALLY about 25 mins & cook time is ACTUALLY around 10-15 mins. Not including the times for cooking the pears in the pan. However, the actual tart is very tasty.

    Reply

  12. Hi there! If we don’t eat this right away (after it’s cooled) should it be stored in the fridge? And if so, should it be covered?

    I’m cooking dessert for a thanksgiving at work and am wondering if I should refrigerate. 🙂 thank you!

    Reply

    • Hello, Shannon. The baked crust and pear slices etc. can each be made up to 24 hours in advance. You can refrigerate covered, but separately, the pears and puree in a separate container. The next day, assemble everything and add 5 minutes to baking time. Hope this helps.

      Reply

  13. Very tasty1 I’d wanted to make something with pears for awhile, and this is a good starter recipe. My wife makes linzertort with a very similar crust, but adds ground almonds for an even more intriguing texture.

    I substituted 1/4 cup sunflower oil for 4T of the butter in the crust, and made a similar substitution for glazing the fruit. It was still quite buttery tasting. I also used 2/3 apple slices, and just cooked them for three minutes before adding the pear slices, which were softer and ripe.

    Also, we did not have an 8″ pan, so I used a 7 1/2″ and two 4 1/2″ tart pans. That worked great!

    ★★★★

    Reply

  15. I added some lemon while sautéing and didn’t have fig jam. Still came out beautifully. I’ve made it twice now.

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  16. 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?

    Reply

    • 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!

      Reply

  18. 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.

    Reply

  19. I followed this recipe as written. I had never before made a tart. It turned out perfectly, and I received rave reviews.

    Reply

    • 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!

      Reply

  20. Hi! Will this suffer terribly if I replace the butter with margarine? I need to make this non-dairy…

    Looks incredible!

    Reply

    • 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!

      Reply

      • 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.

        ★★★★

        Reply

  24. 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.

    Reply

  25. 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.

    Reply

  26. 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!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  27. 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. 🙂

    ★★★★★

    Reply

    • 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!

      Reply

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