Pear Tarte Tatin

I’m back with another new Christmas dessert recipe for you for Day 5 of 12 Days of Christmas Desserts. In case you haven’t quite figured it out yet, I love all things French. When I was little, my aunt used to go to Paris on a regular basis and when any of us cousins turned 12, she took us with her. I vividly remember my 8 year-old self seeing pictures and hearing stories from my cousin’s first French getaway and counting down the days until my 12th birthday. Unfortunately, we moved from North Carolina to Florida later that year and life got in the way and coordinating trips to Paris fell to the wayside. But 20 years later, my time came. My generous aunt packed us up and we spent 10 days in Aix-en-Provence, a region in the South of France, celebrating our birthdays (because we share the same birthdate) and it was really all I imagined my first trip to France being. Then last year, Martin and I spent a few days wandering the streets of Paris and Bordeaux and I began shopping for French real estate. I once listened to a podcast interview with Dorie Greenspan where she said that the first time she walked off of the plane in Paris, she thought to herself "I could have been born here” and I feel that deeply in my soul.

But since Europe doesn’t yet recognize Martin’s professional licenses and I currently do not make enough money off of my writing to support us living overseas, I’ve resigned myself to reading David Lebovitz books and eating steak frites, and drinking lots of wine. Oh, and making French pastries.

Tarte Tatin is a very classic French dessert and it’s somewhat of an upside-down tart. It’s often made with apples, but I had some really beautiful pears in my most recent Misfits Market box that were begging to be snuggled in puff pastry. It’s really a fairly simple recipe, once you know what you are looking for. I did a lot of tarte tatin research in creating this recipe and all of the recipes that I found really don’t differ much. I very slightly adapted one from Deb Perlman at Smitten Kitchen, who had slightly adapted her recipe from the most-talented Susan Spungeon.

I found that the easiest way to make the caramel is by using a large, deep skillet where you can easily see the color of the sugar as it cooks and then transfer everything to a cast iron for baking. You can use store-bought puffy pastry or make your own, I have a recipe with step-by-step instructions here. The most important thing is to let the pastry cool completely (30-60 minutes) before inverting it to keep from having to clean up a sticky, caramel mess.

Pear Tarte Tatin

makes one 10” skillet

slightly adapted from Deb Perlman who adapted from Susan Spungen 

Ingredients

4 tbsp (55 g) unsalted butter

3/4 cup (150 g) granulated sugar

Juice of 1/2 of a lemon

2 tbsp dark rum

1 sheet puff pastry, store-bought or homemade 

6 pears, each sliced into eighths

Procedure 

1. Place your cut pears into a large bowl and squeeze the juice of half of a lemon over top of them. Toss to coat and then set aside.

2. Pour sugar in an even layer in the bottom of a large skillet. Turn the heat to medium heat and cook, without stirring until sugar begins to dissolve and turn golden. When all of the sugar has dissolved, you may swirl the pan once or twice. Cook until a deep amber color.

3. When the sugar is a deep brown liquid, whisk in the butter. The mixture will bubble and sputter, but that’s ok, keep whisking. Once the butter is melted, whisk in the rum.

4. Add the pears to the caramel and stir to coat. Cook over medium-low heat for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until pears are softened and caramel is bubbly.

5. Use tongs to arrange the pear slices in an even layer in the bottom of a 10” cast iron skillet (or deep pie plate) and then pour the remaining caramel over the top. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes.

6. While the pears are cooling, preheat the oven to 400° F.

7. Roll your sheet of puff pastry out into a circle just larger than the skillet and trim the edges. When the pears are mostly cool, gently lay the puff pastry over the top of the skillet and slice a small hole in the center to let steam escape.

8. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until pastry is deeply golden and caramel is bubbling.

9. Let the tarte tatin cool completely in the skillet (at least 30 minutes) before carefully inverting onto a plate or serving dish.

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Spring Greens Tart

Even though I spend all day, everyday thinking about cakes, pies, tarts, cookies, and other sweet treats, there’s nothing that gets me more excited than kale. My palette (and those of most other pastry chefs I’ve met) craves anything salty, briny, or savory. I would eat French fries every single day of my life, I only ever want savory breakfast foods, and spring veggie season is the most delightful time of the year for me. Since pots of beans and piles of greens are not exactly “on brand” for the blog, I stick mostly to the sweeter side of things, but decided to take a little savory detour today for our last little puff pastry recipe. *shhh, don’t tell the Instagram algorithm!

This spring greens tart is a great, slightly inventive weeknight dinner option and if you already have a pound of puff pastry in your freezer or decide to use a store bought pastry, it comes together pretty quickly. The pastry is rolled out, filled with tangles of caramelized onions, creamy goat cheese, and lots of garlicky sautéed greens then baked until golden brown. It’s great with whatever spring green you have blossoming in your neck of the woods and pairs nicely with a bright green salad.

roll dough to 15x12" rectangle and score 1 1/2" strips along each side

cut strips and place them on top of the dough, trim edges

sprinkle goat cheese over the center of the pastry

top with caramelized onions and greens

Spring Greens Tart

Yield: 1 medium-sized tart (serves 2-3)

Ingredients: 

1 lb puff pastry, homemade or store bought

2 small onions, sliced thinly

3 T olive oil, divided

1 T butter

1 large bunch hearty greens (kale, chard, spinach), de-stemmed and roughly chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

2-3 oz goat cheese

salt and pepper

egg wash

Procedure: 

1. Heat a medium-sized skillet over medium-high heat. Add two tablespoons of olive oil and the butter, followed by sliced onions. sauté, stirring every few minutes, until the onions begin to take on a bit of color and brown along the edges. Turn the heat down to low and add one-two large pinches of salt. Continue to cook for 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onions are deeply caramelized. Cool and transfer to a bowl. 

2. Reheat the skillet over medium heat. Add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil, followed by the garlic. Sauté for 1-2 minutes, until garlic is fragrant, but not browned. Add the chopped greens and sauté for another 4-5 minutes, until greens are wilted. Add salt and pepper to taste and let cool. 

3. Preheat the oven to 350° F and line a sheet pan with parchment paper. 

4. On a lightly-floured work surface, roll puff pastry to a 15x12” rectangle. Using a ruler and a sharp knife, cut 1 1-2” strips around the edges of the pastry. (see photos above for reference)

5. Brush the edges of the rectangle with a bit of egg wash, and lay the strips on top of the puff pastry rectangle, creating a raised border around the edge of the rectangle. Trim the edges a bit if needed. 

6. Sprinkle with goat cheese on the bottom of the pastry, and then spread on the caramelized onions followed by the sautéed greens. 

7. Brush egg wash along the edges of the pastry, and bake for 20-25 minutes, rotating halfway through the baking time, until the edges and bottom of the pastry are golden brown. Cool slightly before cutting. 

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Guava and Cheese Pastelitos

This simple Latin guava pastry recipe uses store-bought guava paste, sweetened cream cheese, and includes a recipe and step-by-step instructions for making puff pastry at home.

In the eyes of my Hispanic husband, there is no greater treat in this world than guava and cheese pastelitos. And most of the time, I’m inclined to agree with him. Growing up outside of Miami, Latin pastries were everywhere. In my little community alone, there was a Colombian bakery, a Venezuelan bakery, a Peruvian bakery, and at least two Cuban bakeries. (Honestly, there were probably more but these are just the ones I can remember off the top of my head at this moment.) Many mornings, on the way to school, we would make a detour to Panna, a Latin bakery/cafe tucked inside of a gas station, where we would load up cafe con leches, empanadas, ham and cheese cachitos, and of course guava pastelitos.

Imagine my surprise my freshman year of college, when I moved only a few hours north to Orlando and discovered that I had relocated to a Latin pastry desert. The first weekend of classes, my roommate and I drove to four different Publix Supermarkets looking for ham croquettes and returned empty-handed to our dorm on the verge of tears. I’m happy to say that in the years since I first arrived in Orlando, the Latin pastry options have grown, but I have yet to find pastelitos as perfect as those from our South Florida gas station.

homemade guava pastries

So I made my own. The other day, I wrote about making puff pastry at home and though these pastelitos are best with homemade puff pastry, you can definitely use store bought if that’s more your style. They’re fairly simple to put together, filled with equal parts jazzed up guava paste and sweetened cream cheese. If you live in a place where guava paste is hard to get your hands out, I recommend seeking out a local Latin market if possible and supporting minority-owned businesses in your community (especially in the current situation). You can, however find it on Amazon and I will link a brand I use often at the bottom of the recipe.

roll dough to 18x12" rectangle

score 3x3" squares

cut 24 squares

spread cream cheese on half

add guava paste

top with remaining squares

seal edges with a fork and cut holes in the top

Yield

12 pastries

Author

Anna Ramiz

Prep time

20 Min

Cook time

30 Min

Total time

50 Min

Print

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Guava and Cheese Pastelitos

These light, flaky Latin pastries are filled with guava paste and sweetened cream cheese.

Ingredients US Metric Both

• 1 lb puff pastry dough, homemade, or store bought
• egg wash
• demerara sugar, for sprinkling

for the guava filling

• 7 oz guava paste
• 1 1/2 T hot water
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp ground cardamom

for the sweetened cream cheese

• 4 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1 1/2 T sugar
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

to make the guava filling

1. Place guava paste and hot water in a microwave safe bowl. Heat in 30 second intervals, stirring after each one, until the paste has loosened and is spoonable, adding more water if needed.
2. Remove from microwave and whisk in vanilla extract, cinnamon, and cardamom. Set aside.

to make the cream cheese filling

1. Combine cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla in a bowl and beat using a stand mixer or a handheld mixer until completely combined and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and set aside.

to make the pastelitos

1. Preheat oven to 350° F and line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
2. On a lightly floured work surface, roll puff pastry dough into a 12x18” rectangle. Use a ruler and a sharp knife to cut 24 3x3” squares out of the pastry dough.
3. Place 1 tablespoon of cream cheese filling in the center of 12 of the squares. Gently flatten and spread towards the edges using a spoon or offset spatula. Place a tablespoon of the guava filling in the center of each of the cream cheese dollops.
4. Place the empty pastry squares on top of each of the filled squares to form twelve pastelitos. Use a fork to seal the edges and make two small cuts in the top of the pastry. Transfer pastries to your prepared sheet pan.
5. Brush pastries with egg wash and sprinkle with demerara sugar. Bake for 10 minutes, then rotating the pan and bake for 10-15 minutes longer, until pastries are deeply golden. Let cool completely before enjoying.

Notes:

For this recipe, you can use homemade puff pastry or store bought. Find a recipe and step by step instructions for puff pastry here.

Recommended Products:

Iberia Guava Paste

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Puff Pastry

Grapefruit and Ricotta Flan

Spring Greens Tart

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