Individual Pear and Ginger Tarts
These tarts may take a little more time to prepare, but the presentation
(not to mention the taste) is well worth the effort! Serve with a scoop of
your favorite ice cream!
Ingredients
1 sheet frozen puff pastry
1 large egg
7 crisp gingersnap cookies (about 1 ½ inches in diameter)
2 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon apricot preserves (without chunks)
2 firm but ripe Bartlett or Bosc USA Pears, peeled, halved lengthwise, cored
and cut lengthwise into thin slices
Powdered sugar for dusting
Directions
Remove one sheet of pastry from the package and thaw the pastry at room
temperature for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, beat the egg with 1
tablespoon of water and set aside. Place the cookies in a heavy lock-top
plastic bag and using a rolling pin, crush the cookies to make fine crumbs.
Alternatively, crush the cookies in a food processor. Set aside. Combine the
sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside.
Have ready one rimmed baking sheet, preferably nonstick. For pans with a
nonstick finsh, line with parchment paper.
Unfold the pastry sheet and arrange it on a cutting board. Using a sharp
knife, cut the pastry into quarters, creating four 5-inch squares. Place the
squares on a prepared baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. Fold the sides of
each pastry square about half an inch toward the center, so the edges will
be a double thickness. Use your pinky finger to make indentations about half
an inch apart around the edges of the pastry, creating a fluted effect.
Place the pastry in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
Position an oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 400
degrees. Place the apricot preserves in a small bowl and microwave just
until melted, about 10 seconds. Set aside. Prepare the pears.
Remove the pastry from the refrigerator. Using a pastry brush or your finger
brush the pastry with the beaten egg mixture. Place a rounded tablespoonful
of the cookie crumbs in the center of each pastry and use your finger to
spread it around, keeping the crumbs off the edges. Lay slices of pear in a
tight overlapping fashion over the cookie crumbs. Sprinkle the pears with
the cinnamon sugar mixture. Brush a bit of the melted preserves over the
pears. Bake the tarts until the crusts are beautifully browned, 30 to 35
minutes. Let cool slightly and serve warm dusted with powdered sugar. The
tarts can be made up to 8 hours ahead. Set aside at room temperature.
Yield: Serves 4
Cook’s Note
Double the recipe if you making these for a party. Arrange the oven racks in
the center and upper third of the oven and bake the pastries on two rimmed
baking sheets, switching the position of the baking sheets halfway through
the baking time. These tarts can also be made in a convection oven set to
375 degrees. Check the pastries after 25 minutes for doneness.
Prettypinkbutterfly
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