Tuesdays With Dorie - French Pear Tart

You guys all know by now that (most) every Tuesday is Tuesdays with Dorie here on my little blog because I, with a zillion other bloggers, am baking my way through Baking from my Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. Though I only joined last April, our little group recently turned one and to celebrate, today truly is Tuesday with Dorie as Dorie herself chose the French Pear Tart as this week's recipe.

I'm still not very good at making pâte sablée/sucrée so that was the part of the recipe that intimitated me the most. To make matters worse, I realized I was out of confectioner's sugar, which the recipe calls for. I decided to throw caution to the wind and use granulated sugar instead and to use one whole egg instead of just an egg yolk to help the dough come together. And you know what? I liked it better that way. I had a lot less problems patting the dough into the pan and in the end, the crust turned out perfectly crumbly and buttery.

The rest of the recipe is a breeze, smells fantastic as it bakes and tastes out of this world good! As the almond cream bakes into the crust, it gives it an almost candy-like texture and taste. And the soft pears contrast really nicely with the cruchy crust. I'm telling you, this is a fabulous tart.

I strongly advise you to try this recipe out for yourselves, I promise, you won't be disappointed! For the recipe, you can buy Baking from my Home to Yours (and if you like to bake, you should!) or you can visit Dorie's blog. How cool is that? Don't forget to check out the Tuesdays with Dorie blogroll for more freshly baked goodness!