Pear Custard Tart

Pears have a subtle floral flavor that is irresistible in this recipe for Pear Custard Tart. There’s just enough voluptuous vanilla custard to cradle the pears in the buttery crust.

“Romie Lane was muddy with pools of water standing in the new wheel ruts, and the tall wild oats and mustard grew beside the road, with wild turnip forcing its boisterous way up and stickery beads of purple thistles rising above the green riot of spring.”

East of Eden, John Steinbeck

Inspiration

Winning an Instagram contest brought a half a dozen gorgeous pears into my kitchen. They could have been buried in a smoothie or sliced into an afternoon snack. Instead this Williams Sonoma recipe for Pear Custard Tart was made. Not the spring dessert you’re looking for? Unless you can find sweet local strawberries our fresh fruit is still coming from the southern hemisphere. (Every bunch of spring asparagus I’ve found is from Mexico.) Baking with American grown apples and pears is a delicious option until the growing season catches up to our spring expectations.

Pears have a subtle floral flavor that is irresistible in this recipe for Pear Custard Tart. There’s just enough voluptuous vanilla custard to cradle the pears in the buttery crust. A sprinkle of sugar and almonds dust the top of the tart like an early spring storm in the Sierras.

Essentials

Pear Custard Tart has three components—the crust, filling and pears. The crust or tart dough is a just like making pie dough. Since the dough needs chilling, making ahead saves time on baking day. The custard filling is super easy. It’s whisked together and poured over the sliced pears. Poaching the pears is my favorite part of the recipe for Pear Custard Tart. Switching up the poaching liquid from vanilla and orange to vanilla and cardamom was the best baking decision. I split and scraped a vanilla bean and cracked open four green cardamom pods for poaching the pears. The other delicious decision was to use my stash of vanilla sugar in both the poaching liquid and the custard filling. The kitchen aromas were fabulous. And the Pear Custard Tart was sublime.

Cleaning up from my baking adventure, I couldn’t bear to throw out the vanilla and cardamon laced poaching liquid. Instead, simmering until it was thick and syrupy was worth the extra time. One spoonful in my Earl Grey tea is a fabulous jolt of sweet vanilla and cardamon.