The pear and plum tart is a perfect fall dessert. A puff pastry filled with sliced pears and plums cardamom and brown sugar. A perfect light ending to a meal and it goes perfectly with huge scoop of ice cream.
Plums and pears make such a great combo especially when they are incredibly abundant in the fall. One of the reasons that I love it is because it doesn’t take a lot of time to assemble as the puff pastry is already made for you. Just slice a few fruit and you are good to go. Also this dessert begs to be covered in a huge scoop of ice cream. Vanilla and butter pecan are two of my favorites with this but feel free to great creative with the ice cream flavors.
In this recipe
This is a rather simple and straight-forward recipe. There are not many ingredients here so the pears and plums can take center stage.
Pears: this is a great recipe for Bartlett pears as they soften very nicely when cooked.
Plums: either red or black plums work we for this recipe or even a combo of both.
Brown sugar: will add caramel notes to the tart as well as add additional sweetness to the fruit.
Cardamom: a warming spice that can easily be swapped for cinnamon.
Choosing the right pear
Normally when cooking with pears I tend to cook with Bosc pears. They are firmer and hold their shapes well which makes them perfect for recipes like these Cranberry and Red Wine Peached Pears. However for this tart it is better to use a Bartlett or Anjou pear since they get considerably softer when they cook. This will make sure that the plums and pears are close to the same texture and the pears aren’t too crunchy.
Preparing the puff pastry
Once of the things that you will want to do is to take a knife and make a square or rectangle about ½ inch away from the edge of the puff pastry. The most important part is to not cut all the way through the pastry. Cut about halfway through and when you assemble to not the fruit go into that border space. By doing this the edges of the puff pastry can rise nicely to surround the pears and plums. If you odn’t make the slices then the tart may rise irregularly and if you cut all the way through all juices will flow out and make the pastry soggy.
Assemble the pear and plum tart
Once you are ready to bake you will want to fill the smaller square or rectangle with brown sugar and then the almonds. You will want to alternate the layers of pears and plums in rows, a circle, or if you are feeling bold concentric square rings. All of which are guaranteed to make a visually stunning dessert. Don’t forget to the top the pear and plum tart with a nice scoop of ice cream, or at least serve it on the side and enjoy.
Looking for other pear recipes?
Pear and Plum Tart
Equipment
- Parchment lined sheet pan
- Knife
- Mixing Bowl
Ingredients
- 1 sheet puff pastry
- 2 large pears thinly sliced core removed
- 2 large plums pits removed and cut into 16 slices
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon almonds sliced
- 1 teaspoon cardamom
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ¼ teaspoon Maldon salt or other finishing salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375F, 190C or gas mark 5.
- In a bowl toss the plums, pears, cardamom, lemon juice, vanilla and half of the brown sugar.
- Place the puff pastry on the lined sheet pan and with a sharp knife cut just the top and no more than hallway through the dough a smaller rectangle in the dough about ½ inch inside the dough.
- Sprinkle the remaining brown sugar on top of the puff pastry within the smaller rectangle along with ½ tablespoon of the almonds.
- Alternating pears and plum slices arrange the slices to cover all of the brown sugar. Top with the remaining almonds.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the puff pastry is a nice golden brown color. Top with sliced almonds and Maldon salt.
Nutrition
