Friday Food Craft: Caramel Pear Tart

Have I mentioned yet that I love Fall? Another reason for this love is fresh pears! They are great in so many desserts, as well as just on their own. Here is a rich caramel tart with some fresh pears I got at the Farmer's Market! My favorite part about this recipe? I don't use a candy thermometer, you judge your caramel by color, and there is a tiny bit of wiggle room, but don't walk away or you are sure to burn it and then we'd all be very sad.


To make your own delicious Caramel Pear Tart you will need:

For the Crust:

1 stick (8 Tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup plus 1 Tablespoon confectioner's sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour



For the Caramel:

1/2 cup water
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 stick butter

Topping: about 1/2 a ripe pear, cut into slices


Start with your tart shell. This recipe will yield a crust for one 10 inch tart shell. I happen to have a 7 inch tart pan, so I had some extra, I can verify that it wrks quite well if you want to shape it by hand into a Galette and be more rustic, as that is what I did with my extra dough and some pears. If you lack a tart pan, I'd go this route, it's still super tasty.

To make the dough, start by creaming your butter and confectioner's sugar, then add the vanilla extract and egg yolk, until smooth. Then add in your flour and mix until combined. Form dough into a disc and refrigerate for about 30 minutes to let the dough firm up a bit. On a floured surface, roll out your tart shell (about 1/8-1/4" thick) and put it in your pan. Don't worry if it tears, you can stick it all back together in the pan, this dough is very forgiving. In a 325 degree F oven, blind bake for 15 minutes (I place parchment paper over top and fill it with some beans. I keep my beans in a clearly labeled bag so I know not to use them for anything but blind baking crusts--they will not taste good after doing this). After 15 minutes, remove the beans and parchment and bake an additional 10-15 minutes, until the dough starts browning slightly around the edges. Remove from oven and allow to cool. This can be done up to one day in advance (for those of you not having time to do the whole dessert in one day).


For the caramel, start by placing your water, sugar and corn syrup in a fairly large pan (when you add the butter and cream at the end it will bubble up quite a bit, so leave plenty of extra room) and place on stove top burner at medium to medium high heat, stirring occasionally. Once your mixture starts to bubble up you will want to stir continuously, but slowly, and start monitoring the color. Once your mixture is a medium to dark amber, you want to remove it from the heat and add your butter and cream. I generally get my husband to help me with this so I can stir while everything is being added. Keep in mind that the caramel will continue to cook once removed from the heat, so don't let your sugar get too dark. I generally stir my caramel until it stops bubbling entirely. This time around I added 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon to my final caramel as well, this is optional but sure does smell and taste wonderful!


At this point you can place your caramel into your tart shell and let it set up in the refrigerator*, or if you will be serving it within a few hours it can set up at room temperature. Slice your pear (apples would work just as well if you prefer) and arrange your slices on top. Keep in mind, if you will not be serving it immediately you may want to wait to add your fruit topping as the sugar in your caramel will pull some of the juices out of your fruit and no one wants a soggy tart. Well, I'd eat it anyway, but you get the idea. :)

This caramel also makes a great fruit dipping sauce as long as you keep it warm in a fondue pot.


Enjoy!


*If refrigerating, make sure to remove and set at room temperature for 20-30 minutes before serving.

Fall Fabulous!

It is finally Fall! This has always been my favorite season, leaves changing colors, no more unbearable Summer heat, colorful cozy sweaters can once again be donned, and most importantly my birthday is in October! The 6th to be exact.

I turn 30 this year, and to celebrate I will be having a couple giveaways on the blog in October, as well as a super secret giveaway to those of you who follow me on my newsletter! If you aren't currently subscribed to the newsletter, it comes once a month and there is still plenty of time to sign up before the giveaway, just go here and enter your email address.

I have been busy getting ready for October, so I apologize for the lack in posts this Month, but soon the blog will once again be jam packed with great crafts, and some special Halloween tutorials (including a great tutorial on doing your own Zombie makeup from one of my super sweet cousins).





*Image taken from Life 123.

Friday Food Craft: Gumdrops

This is an extra sweet and sugar filled food craft! I was inspired by a post about a month ago on Bakerella and really wanted to try my hand at making my own gumdrops. Since I wasn't making them for a crowd and didn't want to be too tempted, I halved the recipe on her site. Also, I decided to spice it up by using ice cube trays from IKEA to mold my gum drops into fancy, single piece candies rather than cut all of mine up. I took her advice and sprayed my ice cub trays with cooking spray. I recommend this, these guys are sticky!

I think the added cute factor of having shaped gumdrops is really nice as well, and now is a great time to check out clearance ice cube trays (if you can find the silicone ones, i think they'd be easier to pop your gumdrops out of, but mine worked just fine as well and were only 2 dollars each). Also, if you want smaller gumdrops you don't need to fill each ice cube slot all the way, you will still get the basic shape without the volume.

On to the recipe! (Mine filled 3 ice cube trays from IKEA)

2 Tablespoons (about 3 packets) of unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup cold water
3/4 cup boiling water
2 cups sugar

1/4 teaspoon flavored extract per flavor (I made 3 flavors)
Food coloring to achieve desired color (about 1-3 drops per flavor)

Extra sugar for coating

Start by dissolving your gelatin in 1/2 cup cold water. Allow to set for about 5 minutes, while boiling some water. Add 3/4 cup boiling water, 2 cups sugar and stir until dissolved.

In a large pot (this stuff bubbles up quite a bit) bring to a slow boil and allow to cook for 20-25 minutes while stirring constantly. You may want to enlist the help of someone as this is a lot of stirring and you don't want your sugar to burn.

Separate your mixture into 3 containers, add your flavoring and coloring and refrigerate to set. I used a Pyrex measuring glass to mix mine in and then poured into my ice cube trays. If you use a square pan or baking dish and then cut your gumdrops once they have set, you can mix your colors and flavors right in the pan.

Refrigerate overnight. Remove from trays (or baking dish--then cut into desired size pieces). Cover with sugar, and now the hard part: allow these to set up for 2 days! That was torture, but they are sure tasty.

I was a little heavy handed with the red food coloring in my orange flavored gumdrops, but they still taste orangey and delicious. I also made strawberry flavored. There are quite a large variety of flavor extracts available now, so I recommend trying whatever you like, or maybe be adventurous and get an extract you have never tried before.

Enjoy!