Pomegranate Pear Tart

The pie crust is gluten-dairy-egg-soy free but with the filling this isn't a soy free dessert.

     A few years ago I made Poached Pears with Gingerbread for a Christmas dessert. It was such an elegant and delicious dessert. The wine poached pears by themselves would be a treat! This inspired me to try making this tart today.  I use to make an apple tart that had a really easy pastry crust but I couldn't find that recipe anywhere. So I browsed the internet and was basically seeing the same ingredients and measurements for sweet pastry crusts. I was a bit hesitant and nervous because this was going to be a first attempt at making the sweet pastry crust gluten-dairy-egg-soy free. Either because of dietary concerns or food allergies, this is one of those recipes my whole family can eat safely and would be great to serve on a special occasion. 

     I have to mention a very rewarding comment my husband said to me the other night. He said that a lot of what I cook really tastes good and he doesn't think about whether it is vegan, vegetarian, allergy free, etc.. That just made me smile as I think the ultimate cooking goal is just to create recipes anyone would like to eat. Yet if you are a person living with a food limitation or choosing to eat a specific diet, then it is helpful to find recipes that have the alternatives worked out already. So for the sake of recipes I try to identify what it is 'free' off. For me this is more of a "cook's note" and not something we actually talk about when sitting down to a meal. Usually I don't like to tell people how a recipe has been tweaked. I just say what it is, like pumpkin bread, and leave it at that.

     This recipe has four parts: Pomegranate Poached Pears, Sweet Pastry Crust, Tofutii Cream Cheese filling, then the process of assembling them together. For ease of preparing, you can poach the pears a day in advance. There is an optional Pomegranate Syrup to make that I would make the same day as the pears. It is nice to have if you want to really make this look elegant and 'dress up' the plate when serving. Then the day you want to assemble the tart, make the crust and filling.

printable recipe

Part I

Pomegranate Spiced Poached Pears

Ingredients:

2 cups pomegranate juice (or one bottle of Pom juice)

2 cups apple cider

Peel of one orange

Spices:

   2- 3” cinnamon sticks

   4 whole cloves

   2 star anise

   3 green cardamon seeds, pinch to crack open

   1” piece of ginger, sliced

3 medium firm pears, like Anjou, Barlett or Bosc

Directions:

1. In a 2 quart saucepan add the pomegranate juice, apple cider, orange peel and spices. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.

2. Peel the pears. Cut the stem and bottom off the pear. Cut in half and then use a knife and spoon to core the centers. You can also leave the pears whole if you like. Just cut the bottom flat so that it will sit on a plate. With a slotted spoon add the pears to the simmering juice.

3. Simmer about 15 minutes. Check the pears for doneness by inserting a paring knife or toothpick. The knife or toothpick should go easily into the pear. Allow the pears to cool in the liquid.

Store the pears in their liquid, in a covered container, in the refrigerator until ready to use. If you store them at least overnight the flavor and color will get more intense. 

Pomegranate Syrup (optional but why waste that delicious juice!)

Use 2 cups of the poaching liquid to make the syrup. Add the liquid to a small sauce pan. Add 1/2 cup sugar and stir. Let simmer until the liquid reduces about half and thickens. It is ready when the liquid has a light syrup consistency and coats the back of a spoon. It will thicken more as it cools. Store in a glass jar.

Part II

Sweet Pastry Crust

Gluten, dairy, egg, soy free
This crust is similar to a shortbread cookie.

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups gluten free all purpose flour*

¼ cup powder sugar

1 tsp. Xantham Gum

1 Ener-G egg replacer

¼ c. Earth Balance Buttery Spread, soy free

¼ c. Spectrum shortening

1 T. ice cold water

*I used 1 C. Bob’s Red Mill All Purpose Baking Flour plus ½ C. Almond Meal Flour.

Directions:

Heat oven to 400°F if you are prebaking this crust.

1. Loosely measure out the GF flour into a small glass bowl. Add the powdered sugar and Xanthan Gum to the flour. Sift with a fork.

With a half cup measuring cup fill half of it with the Earth Balance Buttery Spread and the rest with the Spectrum shortening. Place the flour mix and butter-shortening mix in the freezer for 10-15 minutes.

Put a few tablespoons of water in a small cup with a few ice cubes. Set aside.

2. In a food processor, add the GF flour, Xanthan Gum and powdered sugar mix. Pulse to combine.

3. Cut the butter-shortening mix into small chunks and add to the food processor. Pulse until the mixture looks like petite peas.

4. Add the egg replacer, pulse until the dough pulls away from the edge and starts to form a ball. If your dough isn’t pulling together add a small amount of the ice water, 1 tsp. at a time. If your dough is to wet add a little more flour.

5. The dough is now ready to press into a tart pan and prebake. Use a spatula to begin spreading the dough. Then use your fingers to shape and press the dough evenly into the pan.

Note: Next time I will make the crust a little thinner.

The color is off in the second photo because of my lighting.

6. 'Blind baking' or pre-baking is done when the pie crust will be used with an unbaked filling. Two ways to prevent puffing and shrinking of the crust during baking are:

     Most common way is to prick the dough with a fork, line it with aluminum foil or parchment paper, then cover with 'pie weights', beans or rice to weight it down. 

     Another way is to put the pressed pie dough back into the freezer for 15-20 minutes. Then remove it and prick the bottom with a fork before baking. Check the dough while it is baking. If it begins to puff you can prick it a few times. 

Bake for 10 – 12 minutes. Cool on a wire rack before filling.

Note: I had some shrinkage. Not sure if the freezing tip works the same for gluten free flours. 
Will have to test this out again. Maybe I didn't leave the dough in the freezer longer enough. 

    

TIP: Once the pastry crust is baked and cooled it is a good idea to seal the crust to prevent the tart filling from softening the crust. You can melt ¼ cup apricot jam in the microwave, press through a sieve, and then use a pastry brush to spread the jam across the bottom. Save the extra for brushing on the top of a fruit tart. Another way is to melt 4 ounces of semi sweet chocolate in the microwave. Do this in 10 second increments, stirring with a spatula as it melts. When it is melted, use the spatula to spread the chocolate evenly across the bottom of the pastry crust. 

*For this tart I melted 4 ounces of Sunspire dairy free semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Part III

Tofutti Cream Cheese Tart Filling

Vegan, dairy free

Ingredients:

1- 8 oz. container “Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese”, original plain

¼ cup powdered sugar

½ tsp. vanilla

½ T. nondairy milk

1 tsp. lemon zest

Directions:

In a small bowl, add the above ingredients. Beat thoroughly with an electric mixer.

Use to fill one Sweet Pastry Crust.

Part IV

To Assemble The Tart:

1. Use a spatula to spread the melted chocolate evenly on the tart pastry bottom. Chill this in the fridge while you make the Tofutti Cream Cheese Filling. 

2. Spread the Tofutti Cream Cheese Filling on top of the chocolate.

3. Cut the two sides that curve out on the pear. You can eat these but save a few pieces for filling the center. :-) Slice the center of the pair in thin, even slices.

Overlap and layer the pears in a circle. You can use a butter knife to lift them and evenly space. Cut a few pieces from the extra pieces to fill the center. Brush a glaze of melted apricot jam on the top of the pears.

Optional- plate up with a small amount of Pomegranate Syrup. Just a little as the syrup is very sweet and it will overpower the tart. Garnish with mint.