French Pear Dessert Recipe
Tarte Choco Poire

Here is another great French pear dessert recipe - this one includes chocolate too! My downstairs neighbor who hails from Alsace made this tart for tea the other day. I loved the combination of chocolate and pear and was pleased to find out how simple it is to make.

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The Alsace-Lorraine region has many of their own traditional French pastries and my neighbor is an expert baker. At Christmastime she offered us an incredible plate of cookies, at least 7 or 8 varieties. I don't know how she did that as she has two toddlers to keep her busy enough already!

She advises that this pear dessert recipe should not go in the refrigerator as the chocolate hardens and it can become very difficult to slice prettily. However, with the egg topping, you should be careful with leftovers and refrigerate them. Or just do like us: I baked it in the afternoon and we ate it in the evening. No leftovers, no problems!

As always I recommend that you freeze the tart shell for 15 minutes to 1/2 hour once it is fitted to the pan to prevent slippage and bubbling.

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1. Preheat the oven to 400�F (200�C).

2. Fit the pastry to a tart pan or pie tin and pierce the bottom in several dozen places places with the tines of a fork. You can freeze the fitted pastry for fifteen minutes to help keep it from slipping while baking.

3. Drain the pears and slice them into 1/8 inch slices.

4. Place the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl and microwave on high for 2 minutes or so. Check as you go to see if the chocolate has melted. Stop the microwave as soon as it is all melted.

5. Pour and scrape the melted chocolate into the pastry shell. Arrange the pears on top of the chocolate in an attractive overlapping pattern.

6. Beat the eggs with the sugar and then the cream. Pour this on top of the pears.

7. Bake for 25 minutes at 400� F (200�C), or until the top begins to brown.

8. If you wish, sprinkle the tart with two tablespoons of sugar and place it under the grill just until the sugar just starts to caramelize (about two minutes - watch carefully).

9. Remove from oven and let cool completely before serving.

Makes 6 servings.