First of all, note to self: next time Dorie says canned pears work fine? Go with that. Why you ask? Because I brilliantly got pears over the weekend but didn’t get to the tart til today.

So?

Can you say overripe? I can. Overripe and brown. But what did I do? Rather than delay, I THINK i managed to salvage…or I managed to ruin..this expensive and delicious looking tart. We shall see in about 10 minutes…

Mabe the pastry was where I started to go wrong, really: Dories says to leave it “crumbly.” Me? NoOOooo. I press it and pat it into the pan. The pan I forgot to butter (why on EARTH do you need to butter this, which has a gazillion ounces of butter in it? I don’t know. But I DO know if Dorie says to butter, you BUTTER. Too late. Maybe we’ll be chiseling it out of the tart pan. We shall see in about 9 minutes.

I poached the pears–simple and nice (well, I’ll bet it is with not overripe pears)…let them cool in the syrup and turned my attention to the pastry, which was super simple, and I’m betting is delicious. It’s shortbread–my favorite cookie–made into a tart shell. Butter, sugar, flour. Does the world need anything else?

I love almond cream…OH SHOOT. I forgot to add the rum. Drat. I was looking forward to that. I like booze in all my desserts. We shall see about THAT in about…oh, 7 minutes.

(Long day. Jury duty. Woke at 4…just because…couldn’t fall back asleep so I got up and worked on my VisitFlorida dining blog. You’d forget the rum, too. But still. Shoot. I love my rum. Maybe I’ll work it into the glaze…)

Where was I? Almond cream: butter, sugar, almonds, egg–spread this in the shell, place poached (or, in future, CANNED) pears on top, bake. The almond cream puffs up around the pears. It’s so pretty (or would be if it weren’t for those brown, ripe spots. Avoid those…)..

Ding. Ooh, time to take it out.

No, leave it in. I want the center to brown more. (heh. A real time TWD. How ’bout that?) I think I have to go without the rum, because the alternative is to dust it all with powdered sugar, thus hiding any brown pear spots.I bet none of you will EVER come to eat at my house. Boy, do my desserts need work (I was hired as a pastry chef once. Heh. Me, the best they could do???? Sad. Don’t worry. I gave two weeks notice after two weeks. And became a writer.)

The tart? Oh, really really really good. If you cut around those brown pears, that is….The crust is unbelievable, my favorite. And pears and almonds are simply a perfect match. Washed down with my daily dose of vino…Vino O’Clock, as threedogblogger says. (Told you I was SO stealing that…)

So? What are you doing with YOUR tart? I’m off to visit all your blogs.

First of all, note to self: next time Dorie says canned pears work fine? Go with that. Why you ask? Because I brilliantly got pears over the weekend but didn’t get to the tart til today.

So?

Can you say overripe? I can. Overripe and brown. But what did I do? Rather than delay, I THINK i managed to salvage…or I managed to ruin..this expensive and delicious looking tart. We shall see in about 10 minutes…

Mabe the pastry was where I started to go wrong, really: Dories says to leave it “crumbly.” Me? NoOOooo. I press it and pat it into the pan. The pan I forgot to butter (why on EARTH do you need to butter this, which has a gazillion ounces of butter in it? I don’t know. But I DO know if Dorie says to butter, you BUTTER. Too late. Maybe we’ll be chiseling it out of the tart pan. We shall see in about 9 minutes.

I poached the pears–simple and nice (well, I’ll bet it is with not overripe pears)…let them cool in the syrup and turned my attention to the pastry, which was super simple, and I’m betting is delicious. It’s shortbread–my favorite cookie–made into a tart shell. Butter, sugar, flour. Does the world need anything else?

I love almond cream…OH SHOOT. I forgot to add the rum. Drat. I was looking forward to that. I like booze in all my desserts. We shall see about THAT in about…oh, 7 minutes.

(Long day. Jury duty. Woke at 4…just because…couldn’t fall back asleep so I got up and worked on my VisitFlorida dining blog. You’d forget the rum, too. But still. Shoot. I love my rum. Maybe I’ll work it into the glaze…)

Where was I? Almond cream: butter, sugar, almonds, egg–spread this in the shell, place poached (or, in future, CANNED) pears on top, bake. The almond cream puffs up around the pears. It’s so pretty (or would be if it weren’t for those brown, ripe spots. Avoid those…)..

Ding. Ooh, time to take it out.

No, leave it in. I want the center to brown more. (heh. A real time TWD. How ’bout that?) I think I have to go without the rum, because the alternative is to dust it all with powdered sugar, thus hiding any brown pear spots.I bet none of you will EVER come to eat at my house. Boy, do my desserts need work (I was hired as a pastry chef once. Heh. Me, the best they could do???? Sad. Don’t worry. I gave two weeks notice after two weeks. And became a writer.)

The tart? Oh, really really really good. If you cut around those brown pears, that is….The crust is unbelievable, my favorite. And pears and almonds are simply a perfect match. Washed down with my daily dose of vino…Vino O’Clock, as threedogblogger says. (Told you I was SO stealing that…)

So? What are you doing with YOUR tart? I’m off to visit all your blogs.