Pear Tart with Walnut Crumble Topping and Maple Ice Cream

Anything that involves some delicious ice cream melting into a warm crumble, please sign me up!

This recipe right here is for the angels and the gods. But can also be for you! It’s a Pear Tart with a Walnut Crumble Topping and Maple Ice Cream!

Let’s start by the crust. For the crust, I use a tart dough.

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pear pie

Today I want to talk about the difference between pie and tart crust.

We will talk about the structure first.

Tart dough is supposed to be crumbly, with a cookie-like structure. 

For that to be attained, we use eggs in the dough. Eggs act as binders, its proteins offer the dough a tougher structure.

Now, you may have seen somewhere, someday, a pie dough recipe that did ask for eggs. I don’t want to say they are wrong, because there’s no such thing as a wrong recipe.

But pie crust is supposed to be flaky and crisp, with a light, multi-layered structure.

Adding eggs to your pie dough will seriously change that structure and the results won’t be as flaky as if you had NOT added the eggs! I would recommend skipping the eggs in your pie dough.

Now about the flavor.

Tart dough usually asks for a higher amount of sugar than pie dough, making for a sweeter dough.

But that’s not all, some tart dough recipes (such as the one I’m introducing today) call for extracts, such as vanilla or almond.

Also, you can add ground nuts to your dough, adding wonderful nutty layers of flavor to your tart crust. All of this contributes to a more flavorful dough.

Pie crust usually only asks for small amounts of salt and sugar.

I use the same pie dough recipe for savory dishes and sweet dishes, only altering the amounts of sugar and salt by 1/2 teaspoon.

Ok, I’m going to have to make a post about pie dough because I have way too much to say about it. I wrote huge paragraphs and trimmed them down because… you know! We aren’t here to talk about just crusts.

We are also here to talk about the rest of the pie!!!

pear pie

Filling

I chose pears that weren’t too ripe because I didn’t want them to fall apart when they cooked. I used Bosc Pears, which is my favorite variety and they were just ripe enough, but still firm.

Crumble Topping

This crumble topping recipe is such a good one to have under your sleeve. You can substitute the nuts or leave them out. I’ve made this with almonds, cashews, pecans. You can sprinkle it over other tarts, coffee cakes or any other recipes that call for a crumble topping. It’s just wonderful.

Now I really want to talk about something important here. And it’s that Maple Ice Cream. Guys, I swear, I thought pistachio ice cream was my favorite. It has been my favorite for years! But that all changed once I made this maple ice cream. If you have an ice cream maker, I urge you to make this! And I promise you won’t be sorry! This ice cream was THE most delicious thing in the world.

pear pie

Ok I’m going to stop here because it’s quite late and all this talk about pies and tarts made me want to get a slice. See you!

If you wanna see more Pies or Tarts, check out some of my favorites: my Banana Cream and Raspberry Jam Pie or, on the healthier side of things, my Vegan Peanut Butter Tarts.

Pear Tart with Walnut Crumble Topping and Maple Ice Cream

Pear Tart with Walnut Crumble Topping and Maple Ice Cream

This is a recipe for a Pear Tart, finished with a walnut crumble topping, warmed, sitting pretty in a plate with a huge spoon of ice cream right on top of it.
5 from 4 votes
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 4 hours
Total Time 5 hours
Course Dessert
Servings 8 slices
Calories 300 kcal

Ingredients
  

Tart dough
  • 8 tablespoons butter unsalted at room temperature
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup almond flour
  • 1 egg room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
Pear filling
  • 4-5 cups of peeled and sliced pears slice pears into 1/4” thick wedges
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/4 cup light brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
  • 3 tablespoons tapioca flour
Crumble topping
  • 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/3 cup chopped walnuts
  • 8 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature

Instructions
 

For the dough
  • You can use either a mixer or a food processor to make this dough. Remember not to overmix or overprocess once you’ve added the flour to the dough.
  • Start by creaming the butter in the bowl of a mixer or food processor. Just a couple minutes beating the butter until it’s light in color. Add sugar and cream for 2 more minutes until very fluffy.
  • Add almond flour and mix until incorporated, or pulse a couple times in the food processor until incorporated.
  • Add egg and vanilla extract and mix to incorporate.
  • Once egg and vanilla are incorporated, add flour and salt at once. If you are using a mixer, mix for about 20 seconds just enough to bring ingredients together. In the food processor, you will need to pulse a few times to incorporate flour.
  • Whatever you do, don’t overmix. You can always finish mixing with your hands or a spatula if there are streaks of flour that weren’t incorporated.
  • Wrap dough in plastic wrap and flatten like a disk about 1 1/2” thick.
  • Store in refrigerator for at least 3 hours before using and for up to 2 days.
To assemble pie
  • You will need a 9” tart pan, with a removable bottom. If you don’t have one, it’s fine, just use a pie pan but you won’t be able to remove the pie from the dish.
  • After dough has rested in the fridge for at least 3 hours, it’s time to roll out.
  • Tart doughs are very crumbly and won’t be too stretchy. Use quite a bit of flour to make sure the dough doesn’t stick to the counter. Roll it out slowly, making sure you aren’t breaking the dough into pieces, if you do break it, just patch it back together by pressing with your fingers. Once you’ve rolled the dough into a 12 inch circle about 1/4” thick, transfer it to your 9” tart pan.
  • Press the dough down into the pan slightly with floured fingers. It will feel like play-dough. You can press it down the bottom and up the sides while shaping it and making sure the thickness is even all around. You don’t want a very thick nor a very thin crust. Crimp the edges on the top so they aren’t hanging out the pan.
  • Once you’ve lined the pan with the dough, place tart pan in the freezer while you make the filling. The reason for this is that you will make the butter in the dough very hard and it won’t melt instantly as you put your pie in the oven, therefore offering your crust a better structure.
  • At this point, you can pre-heat the oven to 375F.
  • Make your crumble topping. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and walnuts together in a bowl. Add butter and mix with a spatula or even your hands until the butter is incorporated and the mixture is crumbly. Place it in the refrigerator while you prepare the filling.
  • Slice pears and combine all the ingredients for the filling together in a bowl.
  • Take the tart pan out of the freezer and spread filling around trying to make sure the pear slices aren’t a mess, sticking out. I personally like to place them one by one laying them down in layers. Makes the tart prettier when you cut it also.
  • Once you’ve filled the tart, crumble the topping over the pears evenly. Place tart in a cookie sheet in case there are any leaks when you bake it.
  • Bake in pre-heated oven for about 20 minutes. Rotate the pan. And bake for another 20 minutes. If the top is browning too fast, cover it with a piece of aluminum foil. You are most likely going to have to do that at around the 20 minute mark.
  • Once tart is golden all around, remove from the oven and let it cool. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

 

 

 

Maple Ice Cream

5 from 4 votes
Prep Time 40 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes
Course Dessert
Servings 10 servings
Calories 129 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 3/4 cup maple syrup
  • 3 cups half-and-half
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3 large egg yolks
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions
 

  • Boil maple syrup in a small saucepan for about 5 minutes over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. When syrup is amber color and has reduced, remove from heat and add half-and-half and salt to the pan. Stir to combine and bring it to a boil over medium-high heat. Once you see the first bubbles surfacing, remove from heat and set aside.
  • Whisk egg yolks and sugar in a medium bowl until light in color. Temper the eggs with the maple-cream mixture. To do that, start by adding about 1/3 cup of the mixture to the yolks, while whisking. Once that’s incorporated, add maple-cream mixture to yolks slowly in a stream, always whisking.
  • Pour mixture back in saucepan through a sieve to catch any egg bits that might have curdled.
  • Re-heat mixture over medium heat, always stirring, for about 1-2 minutes. Don’t let mixture come to a boil. If you use a thermometer, the temperature should read somewhere between 145F and 160F. Don’t let it pass this temperature. That’s the range of temperature in which eggs cook.
  • Transfer mixture to a bowl, through a sieve, again to catch any bits of eggs that might have curdled. Add vanilla and stir. Cover and store in refrigerator for a few hours to overnight.
  • On the next day, remove mixture from the fridge and churn in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s directions.
  • Store ice cream in the freezer for a few hours before serving.
  • To serve, either spoon ice cream over cold pie or heat the pie for a few seconds in the microwave.

Notes

You will need an ice cream maker

 

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10 Comments

  1. Hey, and I’m not a baker, but I learned something new today! The difference between a tart dough and pie dough! Thank you. Everything about this has me wanting a slice yet what caught my attention is the walnut crumble for that wonderful combination of textures! 🙂

    1. Yay mission accomplished! When I wrote this I thought:I hope at least one person can learn the difference between pie and tart dough lol 👍🙌🙌🙌❤ thank you Mike

  2. If you use pie dough for a filling that contains lemon, is it a tart pie? And if you use a tart dough for a lemon filling do you call it a tart tart?

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