French Pear Tart

This week is the one year anniversary of the first Tuesdays with Dorie. While I didn’t join this group of loyal bakers until September, there are many who have been around since close to the start of the journey…baking a different recipe from Dorie Greenspan’s fabulous cook book Baking: From My Home to Yours. If you don’t have this cook book & you like to bake, definitely pick it up. I am an amateur baker and I love it and while in Tuesdays with Dorie I have baked items that I never imagined I would bake. Most of the recipes have turned out great. I had a few misfires, but those were entirely my fault or the fault of my très pénibleoven (which is on its last legs..time to kick this one to the curb and finally get a new one).  Participating in Tuesdays with Dorie has truly made me a more adventurous and ambitious baker. I really look forward to trying out each recipe and learn something new from each one.

In honor of the one year anniversary, this week’s recipe was selected by Dorie Greenspan herself. The recipe that she picked was a French Pear Tart. It is one of her all time favorites from her cookbook. She baked along with us this week and has posted the French Pear Tart recipe on her blog.

I was super excited about this tart since it involved almonds, which are one of my favorite things. I used a combo of  poached Anjou and Bartlett pears. I didn’t know who was going to eat it this tart, since I had to head out the door to the Big Apple to pick up my husband. But I baked it, and as soon as it was cool enough to handle, I loaded it in the car and hit the road. I stopped off at my mom’s house and left her the tart as a sweet surprise gift. Of course, I took a few wedges of the tart with me for hubby and I to snack on as we drove home from NYC.

I loved the flavor of the almond cream and the crust!  Sweet almondy perfection! I am going to try this tart again with strawberries since MrMango is a bigger fans of berry tarts than of pear ones.  Who knows, I may even try it with cherries!