Coconut & Vanilla

Vanilla-Pear-Tart

adapted from Simone of Pi mal Butter

yield: one rectangle tart pan (36×12 cm)

Ingredients:

for the dough:

• 100 g flour
• 85 g butter
• 1,5 Tbsp sugar
• pinch of salt

for the cream filling:

• 250 g  low fat quark
• 250 g crème fraîche
• 50 g powdered sugar
• 2 sheets of gelatine
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• a little bit of water

for the pear topping:

• 2 aromatic firm pears, peeled, cored and cut into thin slices (2-3 mm)
• 1 vanilla bean, sliced and deseeded
• 3 tbsp Pastis (I substituted it with Ouzo, because I didn’t had any Pastis)
• 40g sugar
• 1-2 Tbsp butter
• 2 Tbsp pistachios, chopped (optional)

Mix the ingredients with the flat beater in your stand mixer, until you have a smooth dough. If it doesn’t come together, add 1-2 Tbsp cold water. Shape into a flat rectangle, cover in plastic foil and stick it in the freezer for 5 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180° C.

Butter your tart pan and flour it lightly.

The following technique is the same as used for puff pastry, but we adapt a shortened version. Roll the dough into a rectangle about 0,5 cm thick. It helps warming the dough a bit with your hands, so it’s pliable. Fold the dough into a third from the short side. Fold the other third over it. Rotate through 90° and roll it out again into a rectangle. Repeat the procedure another 5 times. After that, roll it out into a rectangle, so it fits your pan. Line your pan with the dough. I had some difficulties here, because the dough didn’t want to hold together while transferring it to the pan. So I lined the pan with the pieces and patched it together again. Didn’t noticed it in the end! Pop it in the freezer for another couple of minutes.

Prick the bottom several times with a fork. Bake it for 15 minutes until lightly golden brown on the edges. Let it cool.

In a small pot add the sugar and cover it slightly with water. Solve the sugar on high heat. Let the water evaporate on medium heat, do not stir in the meantime. When the caramel is golden (that can take a while), turn off the heat and stir in the butter. Add Pastis, pears, vanilla, including the bean. Heat again on low heat to cook the pears, until they are tender, but not fallen apart. Add a splash of water, if the caramel is too thick. Remove the cooked pears and put aside.

Cook the caramel until thick, but still fluid. Let it cool.

Soak the gelatine sheets for the cream.

Whisk together the quark, crème fraîche, powdered sugar and vanilla extract.

Squeeze the gelatine and heat with a bit of water in a small pot, until dissolved. Remove from the heat and add 2-3 Tbsp of the cream, until room temperature is reached. Add it to the rest of the cream and whisk.

Remove the shortcrust from the tart pan and fill with the cream.

Put it in the fridge and let it gelatinize (takes about two hours).

Then add the pear slices. Sprinkle with the caramel and the chopped pistachios (optional).

The tart is best eaten at room temperature.