Pear Crumb Tart

As I mentioned a few posts back I made another run to Surfas in Culver City and I was amply rewarded with toys for my kitchen. Among them a real tart pan in genuine stainless steel complete with removable bottom for a grand total of $9.15 for the deluxe 10" model. Such a deal when you compare it to what those guys in the mall charge.

Tonights dessert was inspired by a 10 pound bag of pears I grabbed at Costco last week. I didn't have much else to toss with it so I did the KISS routine and moved on. Since I never made a tart before I didn't want to push it too far but they strike me as thin pies. Perfect for dieting?

Pear Crumb Tart

Filling:

• Pie crust for a 10" pie (your favorite or premade)
• 4 firm ripe pears
• 1 lemon
• 1T flour
• 2 T raw sugar
• 1/4c chopped walnuts

Topping

• 1 C flour
• 1/4 c packed brown sugar
• 1 t ground cinnamon
• 1/4 t salt
• 1/4 c oatmeal
• 1 stick butter

Preheat oven to 375.

Roll out pastry dough to fit into the tart pan. Place pan on baking sheet.

Put pears, flour, sugar in bowl. Zest one half of lemon and add to bowl. Squeeze in the lemon juice to the bowl. Toss and let stand 5 minutes. Arrange pears in the prepared tart pan. Sprinkle any remaining walnuts over the fruit.

For the topping, in a food processor, combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Pulse several times until fine crumbs form. Crumble lightly over the fruit.

Bake 30-35 minutes until lightly golden brown. Serve warm.

The hardest part is filling in the center then using a few pieces cut to fit into the bigger gaps along the outside edge. Not hard but it helped to pay attention in puzzle making class in kindergarden.

See...pulsed just until it was fine crumbs and still clumpy. Over processing the topping you get an unusable dough.

Quite tasty treat for the evening...now onto filling experiments.