Martha Stewart Thin Pear Tart

Hey there. Writing these posts have become somewhat of a little battle. Primarily because I tend to eat all of what I bake and that does no wonders for my waist-line, unless I have people round to share it. I have to sample my creations, of course – but I'm not really the type of person that can stop at just 'two' of those delicious Brownies or those cookies.

I exercise regularly and all, but what I really need is an in-house taster! Someone that can help me polish off the remaining slices or handful of biscuits! I currently don't have one of those, but I'm on the look out! In the meantime I just have to cleverly bake when I'm expecting friends or when the parents come round. I would love to hear from other food bloggers – How do you stop yourself from devouring all of what you bake?

This Pear Tart however, is slightly easier on the conscience than the consumption of a whole tray of brownies. So it gets a thumbs up from me. It's adapted from an American Martha Stewart pear tart recipe however, I'm using good old metric gram measurements as opposed to 'cups'.

Thin Pear Tart
50 g cream cheese (I used Philadelphia Original)
50 g butter, softened
100 g caster sugar
60 g plain flour
pinch of salt
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp apple juice
1 ripe, firm pear
pinch of ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 190ºC/ 400ºF and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together your softened butter (it's very important your butter is soft) and cream cheese until pale and a uniform consistency. Measure out 50g of caster sugar and add to the mixture before adding the flour and salt. Mix well to form a sticky dough.

Lightly flour your greaseproof paper before spooning the dough into its middle. Dust the palm of your hand with flour and use it to flatten the dough into a 22cm/ 9-inch circle, as evenly as possible. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, mix together the apple juice and lemon juice. Cut your pear into quarters length-ways and remove the core. Thinly slice each quarter length-ways into 5mm strips and add them to the apple and lemon juice mixture. Gently coat the slices with the juices being sure not to break up the fruit. Using a colander or strainer, drain the pear to remove excess juice. Starting with the larger slices, arrange the pear in a circle around the edge of the dough. Work your way towards the centre of the dough, overlapping your slices if needed.

Once your slices have been arranged, sprinkle over a teaspoon of caster sugar to taste and repeat with some cinnamon. Transfer to your baking tray. Bake the tart in the oven for 25 minutes until the edges have gone brown.

pear tart + ice cream = yum

Bee's Notes:
• Its best to use original, full fat version of cream cheese. Avoid using a light/ reduced fat' cream cheese.
• Be sure to use firm pears. It makes slicing all that easier.
• Pre-heating your baking tray in your oven will avoid a soggy-bottom when your pastry is placed on it.