Sweet Chocolate Pears Recipes

BITTERSWEET CHOCOLATE AND PEAR TART

Steps:

• Whisk together the melted butter, sugar and salt. Add flour and ground almonds and stir until it feels like damp sand. Press dough evenly along bottom and halfway up the sides of an 8-inch round tart pan with a removable bottom. Use waxed paper or buttered fingers to even out and press dough tightly into the corners. Prick crust all over with a fork and chill while you preheat oven to 350 degrees about 30 minutes. Set pan on a baking sheet and bake until crust is golden brown, about 25 minutes.
• While crust bakes, bring milk, agave and salt to a simmer in a medium saucepan over low heat. Remove from heat and pour over chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl. Let it sit for about 2 minutes without stirring. Starting in the middle of bowl, whisk chocolate together until evenly melted and the mixture a smooth and shiny dark brown.
• Fan pear slices around bottom of the tart shell in one even layer. Whisk beaten egg into the chocolate filling and pour filling over pears and crust. Decrease oven temperature to 300 degrees and return tart to oven; bake until filling is set but still a little wiggly in the center third, about 15 minutes. Remove and cool tart completely on a rack at room temperature. Remove tart from pan sides and carefully transfer to a platter. Slice and serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

UPSIDE-DOWN PEAR CHOCOLATE CAKE

Steps:

• Butter a 9-inch round baking pan.
• To make the fruit topping, put the sugar and water in a heavy saucepan (one with a tight-fitting lid) and stir until the sugar dissolves. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat, then cover and cook for 2 minutes. (Covering in this way allows the steam to wash down the sides of pan, which will prevent any sugar crystals from forming.) Uncover the saucepan and continue to boil the sugar, gently and slowly swirling the pan as needed to cook the caramel evenly, until it becomes a dark amber color. Occasionally wash down the sides of the pan with a pastry brush dipped in cold water. Carefully pour the caramel into the prepared pan and allow it to harden. The pan will be very hot from the sugar, so take care in moving it if you need to. Fan the pear slices on top of the caramel in a circle around the perimeter, filling in the center with the remaining slices.
• Preheat the oven to 350°F.
• To make the cake, place the butter and chocolate in a small saucepan over low heat and melt, stirring occasionally. Sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt together in a bowl. Transfer the melted chocolate to a mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer and add the sugar. Using a handheld mixer with beaters or a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat on medium speed for about 3 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Stir in the flour mixture in three additions alternating with the milk in two additions, beginning and ending with the flour and scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally.
• Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake in the middle of the oven for 40 to 45 minutes, or until the cake bounces back slightly when touched. Cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then invert the cake onto a plate, leaving the pan on top of the cake for 5 minutes before you remove it. Serve the cake warm, topped with a small dollop of Chantilly cream or a scoop of Vanilla Bean Ice Cream.
• Storage: Wrapped in plastic wrap, the cake will keep at room temperature for up to 3 days.

CHOCOLATE-DIPPED PEARS

Steps:

• Melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over simmering water, stirring until smooth. Let cool slightly.
• Starting at bottom of each pear, use a teaspoon to remove core, leaving stem at top intact. Dip bottom three-quarters of each pear in chocolate. Transfer to a parchment-lined plate, and refrigerate until chocolate has set, at least 15 minutes (and up to 2 hours). Bring to room temperature before serving.