Pear Tart with Almond Cream

 This one is a double feature, one of the very rare repeats that I’ve done.

I’ve wanted to make this one for almost a year, after watching Ms. Beranbaum make one on Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6fI5-UMEDQ and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbbHX080Zmc). It was possibly the prettiest pie I’d ever seen up to that point. I was super excited! Just one problem – the available Asian pears are sweeter, juicier, and simply more luscious (I think) than the other kind, but not really appropriate for baking. So, where to get Western pears…

Who else could I ask but Dear Brother? I asked my brother to bring back some Bartlett pears, saying that if he hid them really well in his luggage, customs might not notice (yes, it was the same time I asked him to bring back some limes, as some of the more regular readers of this blog may remember). But alas, they were confiscated! I stopped myself from suggesting that just throwing them into a huge, sparsely packed bag is not exactly the definition of “well hidden.” Well, the kid tried. He now insists on only doing “legal” favors for me.

Afterwards, I began to see some version of this pie at more high-end bakeries, and I realized that they must be using canned pears. Which I sort of considered to be cheating (fresh is always better). But then it occurred to me that I would never finish this project if I didn’t use all the resources available and make small substitutions. So, I bought a can of pears at Bangsan Market, and the only change I made to the recipe is that I poached the pears very very briefly, since they were already a bit soft, and let them sit in their new juices for a longer period of time, mostly to overpower the flavor of their old juices.

The result was quite fantabulous! The light, nutty almond cream complemented the sweet, vanilla-y pears very well. And it somehow tasted very “elegant,” especially compared to last year’s apple-walnut tart, which was perhaps creamier but heavier. I shared this first one with my new “colleagues,” who, I think, enjoyed it, too :)

I had some pear halves leftover, so I decided to make another tart. For the second one, I tried another floral design with the pear slices, mostly to achieve a uniform ratio of pear-to-cream in each bite. Hehehe! I think this second pie actually came out prettier, but it was slightly over-baked. I’m guessing the pear slices keep the heat in longer, so you have to reduce the baking time accordingly.

I shared the second one with my favorite teacher-student pair. We went to a very hip, sort of bohemian neighborhood near Hongdae and made candles and macaron soaps (seriously cute enough to eat!), and then hopped over to a nutritionally and socially conscious, very intimate restaurant where I had some of the best pasta I’ve ever tasted. And, of course, we had some tea and tart. The lady who ran the place was actually a professionally trained pastry chef. She complimented my crust! And went for seconds! It was a truly victorious moment :D