Chocolate Pear Tart

We had pears and bananas that were looking mighty sad this morning.  I whipped up 3 tins of banana chocolate cake and pondered about what to do about the pears.  In the end, I made a bittersweet chocolate pear tart. 

First thing, make the crust.  I had not made this particular crust before but it is so easy and is good for fruit tarts.

1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1/4 tsp kosher salt
8 tbsp. unsalted butter, very cold and cut into tiny pieces
2 large eggs

In a medium sized bowl combine the flour, sugar and salt.  Then add in the butter.  I use my fingers to just mix it up until the butter looks like little peas in the flour.  Next, add in one egg and mix with your hands.  I found one egg did the trick.  If it was drier in the house, I might have needed another egg so keep that in mind.

I then pressed this mixture into a tart tin and set it in the refrigerator for a few hours before I partially baked it.  When it was ready to be partially baked, I took a fork and pricked the bottom all over with a fork.  Took a large piece of parchment paper, pressed it to fit in the tin and up the sides and poured baking beans over to keep the paper pressed over the dough.  This way when the tart is baking in the oven, it doesn't bubble and rise.  Bake at 375 for about 15 minutes so the edges are browned and take out, then cool.

Inside:

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate chopped
4 medium sized pears that are slightly firm ( I happened to have red pears )
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Mix together in a bowl, with a whisk, the eggs and egg yolks, sugar, vanilla and heavy cream.  Cut up the bittersweet chocolate into tiny pieces.  Peel and cut the pears in half.  Then use a melon baller to get out the middle of the pears.  Turn the pear over so the inside is set on a surface.  You can cut the pears very thin but not cutting off the end pieces to create a fan or you can just cut the pieces thin and call it a day.  I went with the latter because some of the pears were softer then others and I was afraid that when I fanned it out everything would just get mushy.  Bosc pears would probably be best for that look.

Spread the chocolate bits over the cool partially cooked pie crust.  Place the pears in a uniform way around the crust covering the bottom.  Pour the custard mixture over that until fill.  You might have some custard left over because you might not need all of it.

Bake at 400 for about 10 minutes and then lower the temperature to 375 for another 30 or 40 minutes or until the custard is sit.

Voila.