Chocolate and Pear Tartlets

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My turn to host Book Group, so thought I'd make tartlets rather than a cake. Found a small tin of pears in the cupboard that needed using, hence the idea for these tartlets. I love any chocolate and pear combo, so this would be the base.
So, a pastry shell filled with an almond cream, slices of pear, then a creamy chocolate topping. I used 2 pears from a tin of pears in juice, but you could use fresh pears which have been poached in a sugar syrup.

I made a sweet sc pastry with 150g flour, 50g caster sugar, 75g butter, 1 egg yolk and 1-2tbsp water, but you could make the pastry without the sugar if you prefer. You don't need to be told how to make this pastry, but put it in the fridge for about an hour before you use it.

Roll this out to about 2mm thick then cut out circles with a cutter to fit your tart tin. It makes 12; prick bases with a fork then put in the fridge.

For the almond cream, in a bowl mix  together 50g ground almonds with 50g icing sugar, 40g soft butter, a beaten egg, a couple of drops of almond extract and a tbspn of single cream.
Take the tartlet shells out of the fridge and spoon a layer of almond cream into the bottom. Bake for 15mins at 180C/gas4. leave to cool.




For the chocolate cream, heat 6cl of milk in a pan with 6cl of single cream. - don't boil. Beat an egg yolk into 25g of caster sugar till white, then pour in the warm liquid and stir well. Pour back into the pan and over a gentle heat stir continuously to thicken the mixture. Break 85g dark chocolate into pieces, pour the milk mixture over and stir gently till the chocolate has melted - leave to cool.


Slice the pears thinly [you only need 2 pears] then put a couple of slices onto the almond mixture and cover with the chocolate cream. Smooth the top then put in the fridge for about 30 mins before serving.





Excuse the silly ribbon in this photo - my daughter's idea! These are the finished tarts.

My Book Group loved the various textures - the crunchy pastry, the almond cream which has some  texture from the almonds, then the soft juicy pear and finally a lovely creamy chocolate topping. I'll certainly make these again.



Comments

Suelle said…
What an original idea, to add the fruit after baking the frangipane tarts. I can see this working well as a large tart too!
14/1/15 12:57 pm
The Caked Crusader said…
Love this recipe - and chocolate and pear is one of my all time favourites!
19/1/15 7:59 am
thecelticcookinshanghai said…
Love the idea of these. They look very tempting. Chocolate and pears, mmm!
22/1/15 8:33 pm
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