This French-inspired Chocolate Tart with Slow-Roasted Pears is a truly decadent holiday dessert. This beautiful and indulgent pear and chocolate tart combination can brighten any occasion—and it's easier to make than it looks!
Table of contents
Each year I eagerly anticipate the arrival of Gourmet Traveller's annual French issue. When my subscription arrived in the mail this year, I couldn't wait to devour it! I've long dreamed of visiting France but haven't had the opportunity to go there yet (perhaps we can go for our honeymoon). For now, I get my French fix by flicking through the pages.
This year's issue featured gorgeous Chocolate Tarts and Muscat poached pears on the cover. I was so inspired by the chocolate tart and pear combination that I ran straight to the kitchen to begin cooking my own version!
Instead of poaching the pears I decided to try slow-roasting them with a little butter, vanilla bean, and sugar. The slow roasted pears were delicious, and when paired with the chocolate tart, it was a magical combination.
For the chocolate ganache, I used Pedro Ximénez in place of the Muscat in the original recipe. Pedro Ximénez is a delicious sherry, and it worked well with both the chocolate and pears.
The end result was a delicious pear and chocolate tart that looked and tasted truly decadent.
What country do you dream of visiting?
Lurpak Challenge Submission
By the way, I've submitted a couple of my recipes for the Lurpak Challenge. To vote for my Chocolate Quinoa Pear & Plum Crumble click here and for my Cauliflower Sformato click here. Voting ends on the 10th of July 2011 at 11:59PM AEST and you can vote once per day until the deadline.
If you love vegan baking, make sure you grab a copy of my free vegan baking cheat sheet while you're here. It's packed with all my favorite plant-based substitutions to help you vegan-ize any recipe!
How To Make Chocolate Tart with Slow-Roasted Pears
- Make the Vanilla Bean Slow-Roasted Pears.
- Roast pears in the oven for 2 hours.
- Make the Pâte Sucrée.
- Roll out and line the tart tins with the pastry and trim the edges. Refrigerate.
- Blind bake the tarts until golden.
- Brush the inside of the tart with egg and bake again until crisp.
- Once cool, thinly slice pears and use them to line the tart bases.
- Make the Pedro Ximénez Chocolate Ganache.
- Pour into the tart shells over the pear slices.
- Refrigerate until set.
- Serve with the remaining pears and whipped cream.
More Elegant Dessert Recipes
Whether you're planning a fancy dinner party or simply want to impress your significant other with a decadent dessert for date night, we have the perfect recipe for you!
Macarons are the epitome of French pastry elegance, so why not try your hand at these Chocolate Macarons with Salted Caramel Chocolate Ganache?
Mint adds a fresh flavor burst to an otherwise heavy, decadent chocolate dessert. Whip up some of these Mint Brownies and get fancy with the icing!
If you're looking for something a little more savory for dessert, why not serve up some classy crackers with this refined Brie and Raspberry Jam Bruschetta.
Or, if you really do want to try this Chocolate Tart with Slow-Roasted Pears, but you think it's a bit too much for you—skip the chocolate but keep the pears! Go ahead and make these delicious Chai Poached Pears with Cinnamon Whipped Cream.
And for more delicious recipes, don't forget to grab a free copy of my Top 15 Reader-Favorite Recipes before you go!
Recipe
Chocolate Tart with Slow-Roasted Pears
Ingredients
Vanilla Bean Slow-Roasted Pears
- 4 pears peeled, cored, and cut in half
- 10 g butter chopped into small pieces
- 50 g sugar
- 1 vanilla bean split and seeds scraped
Pâte Sucrée
- 200 g plain flour
- 60 g pure icing sugar
- 120 g cold butter coarsely chopped
- pinch of salt
- 1 tbs iced water
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 beaten egg
Pedro Ximénez Chocolate Ganache
- 330 ml pouring cream
- 30 ml Pedro Ximénez sherry
- 250 g 70% Lindt chocolate finely chopped
Instructions
Vanilla Bean Slow-Roasted Pears
- Preheat the oven to 120°C/250°F, and line a roasting pan with baking paper.
- Add the pears, sugar, and vanilla (seeds and pod) to a bowl and mix to combine. Place the pears (cut side up) into the roasting pan.
- Top the pears with the pieces of butter and roast in the oven for 2 hours or until the pears are tender. Check every half hour or so to turn the pears and baste them in the juices.
Pâte Sucrée
- In a food processor, combine the flour, icing sugar, and salt until well-combined.
- Add the butter and iced water and process until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Then add the egg yolk. Process to combine.
- Turn out the pastry onto a cling film and form into a disc using the back of your hand. Wrap dough in cling film and refrigerate for 2 hours.
- Grab 1 large, 2 medium, or 8 mini fluted tart tins.
- Retrieve the pastry from the fridge. Roll out the pastry between 2 sheets of lightly floured baking paper to a thickness of 2mm. Line the tart tins with the pastry and trim the edges. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/355°F.
- Line the tart crusts with baking paper, add pastry weights, and blind bake the tarts until golden—about 15 minutes. Remove the baking paper and pastry weights, and brush the inside of the tart with the beaten egg. Bake again until crisp—about 5 minutes. Set aside to cool.
- Once cool, thinly slice 3 pear halves from the roasting pan. Line the tart bases with the halved pears.
Pedro Ximénez Chocolate Ganache
- Place the cream and Pedro Ximénez in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over a medium heat.
- Remove from the heat and add the chocolate, stirring until smooth. Let chocolate mixture stand for 10 minutes before pouring into the tart shells over the pear slices.
- Refrigerate until set.
- Serve with the remaining pears and whipped cream.
Joyti says
I wish Gourmet Traveller was available in the U.S...such gorgeous photgraphs. And lots from one of my favorite photographers, Con Poulos.
The tart looks delicious...and those roasted pears - yum!
delicieux says
Thanks Joyti. 🙂 If you have an iPad Gourmet Traveller have an app you might want to check out. You can also visit their website for recipes http://gourmettraveller.com.au/
anh@anhsfoodblog.com says
French desserts are always so elegant! Right? Like this tart! Perfect!
Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella says
Hehe we had the same question for our end of post question! 😛 I'd have to say I'd like to explore more of the US and I'd like to visit San Sebastian!
Kayla says
It seems like you love all things French? I don't know as much about French cuisine, but this looks fabulous! Cooked fruits are so so lovely aren't they? By coincidence, I made some poached pears over the weekend:)
My recent post Vanilla-Scented Poached Pears
delicieux says
Hi Kayla,
I do love all things French, and hope I get to go there one day. How funny we both made pears 😀
Maria@Scandi Foodie says
I definitely want to visit France too, not least because my brother and my cousin live there! This tart looks so heavenly!!
john@heneedsfood says
As I've been to many countries I'm yet to get down to Sth America and do it properly. I'd love to get back to Chile and explore its rugged countyside. Also the Northwest of China is within my sights. I love the food from that region!
Your tarts look absolutely divine and the use of Pedro Ximénez would give it a gorgeous flavour. This beautiful sherry certainly is doing its rounds in Sydney restaurants at the moment!
My recent post Bécasse – CBD
Jess says
I think you've finally pushed me over the edge into investing in a bottle of Pedro Ximinez - this tart looks absolutely amazing. I'm looking for another dessert for a dinner party I'm having in a few weeks' time (I want to do a whole bunch of little dishes each course, hence the multiple desserts, kind of like tapas-style dining for every course), and this might be it! I've been wanting to make this recipe for a while - http://tinyurl.com/3r98yje - but I think I prefer this pear version you made.
I used to dream of going to the UK and Ireland but then I did in December/January, so now I just think about going back, haha.
delicieux says
Hi Jess! 😀
Thanks for your lovely comment. Pedro Ximinez is definitely worth investing in. I love it with chocolate desserts or even cheese platters. If you are really wanting to showcase it though I would actually poach the pears in Pedro Ximinez sherry instead of roasting them and serve them with the tart. You could try this recipe I've used before for poaching in Pedro Ximinez https://www.deliciouseveryday.com/2010/09/05/pedro-ximen... and adjust it to suit your tastes.
The UK and Ireland sound fantastic. My Grandparents come from both countries so I'd like to see their heritage, but I've got a lot of other countries ahead on my must visit list first.
Kulsum says
Gorgeous! Pears and chocolate - can never be wrong 🙂 I don't really have subscriptions to travel or food magazines, I guess I need to change that. But my dream visit has to be Italy!
My recent post Aloo Matar Paratha - A Guest Post by Prerna of Indian Simmer
delicieux says
I'd love to visit Italy too Kulsum! Italian food is just SO delicious and wonderful, and I love the Italian way of life too.
elle marie says
Gosh, I sure wish I could pick up that magazine, I wonder if they have it in a digital version?
delicieux says
Hi Elle Marie 😀
Gourmet Traveller do actually have a digital version available in the iTunes App store for iPad. Here's the link http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/gourmet-traveller/... Not sure if it's available internationally, but it's worth a try.
cc11 says
I used to dream of France but now that I have been there I dream of Spain! Your tarts looked gorgeous 🙂
delicieux says
Thanks 😀 I'd love to go to Spain too. My best friend has told me many tales of her time in Spain, including getting some beautiful custom made shoes for the price you would pay for a standard pair in Australia.