Chocolate pear tart
 
Inspired by the Chocolate Pear Tart of Frederic Bau from the Chocolate Master Class

Prep time: 10+ 25mn
Res time in the fridge: 1h
Cook time: 40mn

For a 26cm tart ring / Serves 6 to 8
Ingredients
For the chocolate shortcrust pastry
  • 120g of butter at room temperature
  • 2g of salt
  • 90g icing sugar
  • ground almonds 15g
  • 1 egg
  • 205g (60g + 145g) flour
  • 35g of unsweetened cocoa powder
For the almond cream
  • 1.5 eggs
  • 90g ground almonds
  • 75g unsalted butter
  • 75g sugar
For the clear glaze
  • 2 gelatine leaves
  • 12cl pure apple juice
  • 25g jam sugar
For the chocolate sauce
  • 100g chocolate
  • 50g milk
  • 50g double cream
Instructions
Make the chocolate shortcrust pastry
  1. In a bowl, sift 145g of flour with the cocoa powder.
  2. In the bowl of your stand mixer, mix the soft butter, salt, icing sugar, almond powder, egg and the remaining 60g of flour using the beater attachment. Once the mix is homogeneous, add the flour and cocoa mixture. Mix very briefly until the flour is incorporated. Form a ball, wrap in cling film and let the dough rest in the fridge for 1 hour.
  3. Once rested, roll out the dough to 3mm thick and place it in the tart ring. Roll out the scraps of dough to 2mm thick and, using cookie cutters or glasses of various sizes, cut out small disks to use to decorate the tart. Keep in the fridge while you prepare the other elements.
Prepare the filling
  1. Peel and cut the pears in half. Then cut into 4 or 5 quarters according to the size of the pear. Using a small knife, remove the core and seeds on each slices. This way, the slices should be very regular.
Prepare the almond cream
  1. Melt the butter and let it cool a little. In a bowl, whisk the egg and sugar until the mixture whitens. Add melted butter and almond powder and mix gently.
Assemble the tart
  1. Preheat oven to 210°C. Get out your tart crust from the fridge and spread the almond cream.. Arrange the pears quarters to create a sun shape, lightly pressing them into the almond cream. Put in the oven and immediately turn down the temperature to 180°C. Bake for about 30-40mn (the almond cream should be golden). Bake the discs for the decor separately, for 6-7mn. Let cool on a cooling rack for 5 minutes before coating the pears with the clear glaze.
Prepare the clear glaze
  1. Soak the gelatine in a bowl of cold water.
  2. Heat the apple juice in a saucepan. When the juice is hot, add the jam sugar and bring to a boil. If foam appears, remove it. Turn off the heat, and add the drained gelatine. Mix to dissolve. Allow to cool a little, until the mix is less liquid (it should be thick like a syrup and coat a spoon) then using a brush, coat the apples with the glaze to make them shine and prevent them from drying out.
Prepare the chocolate sauce
  1. Melt the chocolate and heat the milk-cream mixture. Incorporate the liquids to the melted chocolate in three times, stirring vigorously in between with a spatula until the mix is elastic and shiny.
  2. Let cool before using to decorate the tart. To complete the tart, add the discs of chocolate pastry. Serve your chocolate pear tart with the remaining chocolate sauce.
Recipe by Anne-Sophie Vidal - Fashion Cooking at https://www.fashioncooking.fr/2016/10/chocolate-pear-tart/