Free-Form Pear Tarts with Almond and Cinnamon

Free-Form Pear Tarts with Almond and Cinnamon are very simple to make.  Don't let the long, fancy name fool you.  Store bought almond paste and puff pastry help make this a quick and easy dessert.  You don't have to tell your family and friends how easy these are to make.  Let them think you slaved over these delicious tarts! :) 

Recipe Link
Ingredients 
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 sheet frozen puff pastry (9-3/4-inch square), thawed overnight in the refrigerator
Flour for dusting
2 Tablespoons almond paste (from can or tube)
4 teaspoons sour cream
2 small firm-ripe pears, peeled, cored and cut into 12 wedges each.
Vanilla ice cream, if desired
Directions
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Unroll or unfold the puff pastry on a lightly floured surface. Pinch any creases together and then smooth them out with your fingertips. Cut the pastry sheet into four equal squares and transfer them to the lined baking sheet.

Roll 1-1/2 teaspoons of almond paste in to a small ball, flatten it slightly with the palm of your hand, and put it the center of one puff pastry square. Drop 1 teaspoon of sour cream on top. Sprinkle about 1/2 tablespoon of the cinnamon sugar over the sour cream. Arrange four pear wedges in the center of the puff pastry, two leaning away from the center one way and two leaning the other way. Sprinkle with another 1/2 tablespoon of the cinnamon sugar. Repeat with the remaining three puff pastry squares and filling ingredients---you won't need all of the sliced pears.

Fold corners of the puff pastry over the pears until the tips are just touching, but not overlapping and press the dough against the pears. (The tarts won't look pretty now, but they'll be beautiful once they bake and puff up.) 

Bake until puffed and golden brown on the edges, 22-27 minutes. Let cool. Any juices that leak on to the baking sheet will harden to a candy-like consistency, so break-off these bits before serving.
Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, if you like.
Makes 4 servings

Source Fine Cooking recipe by Gale Gand

 Almond paste is found in a can like this or in a tube at your local grocery store in the baking section. Almond paste is basically ground almonds and sugar combined together with either egg whites or a liquid sugar syrup. (It's a little pricey--this 8 oz. can was about $5, but for this recipe I only used about 1/4 of the can.)
 You could also make almond paste in a food processor. Just search for an almond paste recipe and you will find a lot of different ones, some with egg whites and some with simple syrup.

Almond paste, sour cream, cinnamon sugar, pears and more cinnamon sugar. Yum!

The corners of the puff pastry are folded up just until they touch. That's it! These tarts are ready for the oven. See, I told you these are so easy to make!

As these tarts bake, the pastry puffs up and opens, creating a bowl. A really delicious bowl!

The perfect spot for adding a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

The Results...
Easy and delicious!  This was a fun dessert to make and share with my family.  The kids can even help put these together by rolling the almond paste into balls or sprinkling on the cinnamon sugar.

Our family gave this recipe 4 stars (out of 5).  My husband suggested I flatten out the almond paste more the next time I make these tarts.  It was all in the middle and he would like it more evenly distributed because he enjoyed the almond flavor mixed with the pears.

Free-Form Pear Tarts with Almond and Cinnamon are part of The Lady Behind the Curtain's Dessert Challenge. (You can find more information about the Dessert Challenge here.)  Every month we are assigned two ingredients (this month it was Almond Paste and Pastry Dough).  We are to take those two ingredients and create or find a recipe using the chosen ingredients.  I have to admit that I was a little worried about this month's challenge because I didn't even know what almond paste was or where to find it.  But, I discovered that almond paste is at my local grocery store in the baking aisle!

The following recipes are from other blogs that are part of the Behind the Curtain Dessert Challenge, too.


I also share recipes at these linky parties.