The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

When we moved to this house, we discovered a prolific plum tree and a sad pear tree in our backyard. After a couple years of disappointing pear harvests, we did a little research and discovered that our pear tree needed a companion for pollination purposes. We planted a new pear tree and waited. Finally, this year we have had the bounty of beautiful Bartlett pears I had been dreaming of. Their arrival has aligned perfectly with the changing of the seasons, inspiring me to test some baking recipes. This lovely tart is layered with fresh pear slices arranged over a honey sweetened pear puree, and then topped with a nutty, spiced crumble. Hello, autumn.

Ingredients:

For the crust:

1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon fine salt

10 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into cubes

2 to 4 tablespoon ice water

For the filling:

6 pears

¼ cup honey

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

For the crumb topping:

½ cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup brown sugar

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Pinch of ground nutmeg

½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1/3 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

First make your crust. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour and salt. Working quickly, add the butter and cut it in with a pastry cutter, or use your fingers to blend into the flour. Work until you have a coarse, crumbly texture, leaving large irregular pieces of butter throughout. Add the ice water, a tablespoon at a time, and mix with a fork until the dough just begins to clump together. Dump the dough out onto a floured surface and gather into a ball. Use the palm of your hand to form into a disk shape. Wrap the dough disk in plastic and chill in the refrigerator for at least one hour, or up to 2 days in advance.

While the dough is chilling begin to make the bottom filling. Core three of the pears and cut into 1-inch cubes. Place the pears into a medium saucepan with the honey, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt. Set pan over medium heat and cook, stirring often, until the pears cook down into a rough puree, about 25 minutes. Remove pan from heat and set aside to cool. The puree will thicken as it cools.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Roll out crust on a floured surface to 1/8-inch thickness. Line a shallow pie dish or tart pan with the crust, crimping the edges. Poke the bottom a couple of times with a fork and line the crust with foil or parchment paper then fill with pie weights or dried beans. Parbake crust in hot oven for 15 minutes, then remove the foil and weights and bake for an additional 5 minutes until crust is lightly golden. Allow crust to cool slightly before filling.

While the crust is parbaking make the crumb topping. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Cut the butter into ½-inch pieces and add to the flour mixture. Use your fingers to rub the butter into the flour until a crumbly texture is created. Don't over work. Evenly mix in the chopped walnuts. Chill crumble topping in the freezer until ready to assemble tart.

Spread the pear puree filling over the bottom of crust. Peel and core the remaining three pears. Cut pears in half lengthwise and then into thin slices. Decoratively arrange the pear slices over the puree. Cover the top of tart with the crumble mixture. Set tart in the hot oven and reduce the temperature to 350 degrees. Bake until top is golden brown, and the fruit is bubbly, about 40 to 50 minutes. Keep an eye towards the end, and cover with foil if the crust or crumble is browning too quickly. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack completely.

Notes:

Use your favorite pear variety for this recipe. Bartlett, D'Anjou or Bosc pears are all wonderful options for baking. Sometimes pears from the grocery store need a little time to ripen. Place pears in a paper bag on your counter to encourage ripening. Depending on the sweetness of the variety you use, you might need to adjust the amount of brown sugar in the filling puree.

You could omit the walnuts from the crumb topping, or replace them with pecans, pistachios, or even hazelnuts.

Serve this fragrant tart warm or at room temperature. A dallop of fresh whipped cream or vanilla ice cream would be delightful served on top.

Enjoy!