Chocolate and Pear Crostata

A delicious blend of rich, velvety chocolate and the delicate sweetness of ripe, succulent pears for an easy-to-make Chocolate and Pear Crostata that will impress you.

Course Dessert

Cuisine Italian

Keyword Chocolate and Pear Crostata

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 45

Chilling Time 30

Servings

Calories 682kcal

Author Marisa

Equipment

11 inch round baking tin

Ingredients

For the Short Crust Pastry Dough

3/4 cup or 12 tablespoons butter cubed
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg yolk
2 cups all purpose flour

For the Chocolate Filling

14 tablespoons butter cubed
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs beaten
1 1/3 cups walnuts, lightly toasted finely ground
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
3 1/2 ounces dark chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate, melted I used 70% dark chocolate
3 medium ripe firm pears or 4 small pears (I used Bartlett Pears)
powdered sugar for dusting

Instructions

Making the Pastry

Place the butter and sugar together in a food processor and blend until smooth.
Add in the egg yolk and blend again until it is thoroughly mixed.
Next, add in the flour and pulse intermittently until the dough is smooth and not sticky.
For an 11-inch tart tin, you'll need most of the dough. See notes below for different-sized tart pans.
Line the greased tart tin with the dough by patting it down in the tart tin while spreading it out with your fingers. Or roll between two sheets of parchment paper. Either will work fine. (If it tears, don't worry. You can press it back together with your fingers.)
Trim off the excess with a knife.
Chill for at least 30 minutes.

For the Filling

Beat together the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy.
Add in the eggs, ground walnuts, flour and beat until smooth.
Stir in the melted chocolate.
Spoon the mixture over the pastry and smooth it gently with a pastry knife.
Peel the pears and cut them in half length-wise.
Remove the cores and slice each half length-wise into thin slices.
While keeping each of the sliced halves together, place them over the chocolate filling. Leave some space between them so that the mixture has room to expand.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F, for about 45 minutes or until the walnut mixture is firm and the pastry is golden brown.
Transfer to a wire rack to cool then dust with powdered sugar just before serving.

Notes

The recipe is adapted from a favourite cookbook, Cafe Italia Cookbook and only switching almonds for the walnuts as a personal preference.

I've tested this recipe using different-sized tart pans. Here are my recommendations for using a 9, 10 or 11-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. This should avoid any overspill of the chocolate filling.

9-inch round tart, use half the quantity of the pastry dough and 2 1/2 medium-sized pears or three small pears. Freeze the remaining portion of dough for later use or make cookie cutouts.

10-inch round tart, use 3/4 quantity of the pastry dough and three medium-sized pears or four small pears. Bake cut-out cookies with the remaining dough.

11-inch round tart, you can use most of the dough. You'll have the trimmings left over. Use three to 3 1/2 medium pears or four small pears.

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