Joan's Pear Tart

Babs in Toyland's Note:

This is a delicious as well as impressive dessert to make for your guests. It always gets lots of oohs and ahhs when you serve it because of the pretty presentation. Plus it tastes great! Recipe given to me by my friend Nancy and is from her stepmother Joan.

• Total Time: 55 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 35 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 8

Crust

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 3/4 cup flour
• 2/3 cup finely chopped pecans

Filling

• 8 ounces cream cheese
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 (29 ounce) can pear halves in natural juice, drained
• 2 -4 tablespoons cinnamon sugar
• whipped cream (to garnish) (optional)

Directions:

1. Beat the first 4 ingredients together until well blended and then add the pecans to the mixture and mix well.
2. Press into an 11 inch round tart pan (use the one with a removable bottom for best presentation).
3. Beat together the cream cheese, sugar, eggs and vanilla for the filling and pour over the crust.
4. Arrange the drained pear halves in a pretty design on top and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.
5. Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes and then turn the heat down to 400 degrees and bake for an additional 25 minutes.
6. Remove side from tart pan to serve.
7. Serve warm and if desired garnish with whipped cream.

Reviews

[Chef #742955]

I've made this at least four times and it's always amazing. One tip: don't soften the cream cheese or the filling will be too runny. I use a different recipe for the crust to make it gluten free and have used pears each time. I have one in the oven right now though that I'm doing with cherries and I can't wait to taste it!!

[poptart77]

I made this for Thanksgiving, and wow! I'll definitely be making it again, and I love the idea of using different fruits. My husband loves peaches, so this would be great to make with fresh peaches in the summer. I used fresh pears instead of canned, and I added dried cranberries. I poached my pear halves and cranberries in apple juice with some apple pie spice added. I think I ended up using 4 or 5 whole pears.

[KK - Chef #426156]

Babs says this is an impressive dessert, and she is absolutely right. The buttery, crumbly crust complements the flavorful creamy filling perfectly. I had very ripe red bartlett pears and peaches that were even more ripe, so I used a 9" tart pan and two individual size tart pans. I used pears in the larger pan, and peaches in the small ones, and both were excellent. Thanks for a recipe I know I'll make many times! Updated review: I first reviewed this in September, but made it again twice today (12/30/07). I made a Pear Tart for a New Year's Eve party tomorrow and it's beautiful, as usual. I also was craving a cherry dessert, so I re-hydrated some dried cherries in hot water and let them sit overnight, then drained and put them on top of the filling instead of the pears. Also used almonds in the crust instead of pecans, and put a few sliced almonds on top with the cherries for a pretty presentation. Very yum - was a great dessert for our 15th anniversary. Will try this with dried blueberries next. What a wonderful, versatile recipe. 5/12/08: Made this again for Mother's Day, but with fresh blueberries. It was a big hit, but I still want to try it with dried, reconstituted blueberries. This one always keeps its 5-star rating from me!