Easy Puff Pastry Pear Tarts

baked puff pastry pear tart rectangle with powdered sugar

Easy Puff Pastry Pear Tarts

These individual Pear Tarts, made with fresh pears, puff pastry, sweet jam, and warm spices, are so impressive looking, but incredibly easy to make. Enjoy one for breakfast, a light dessert, Sunday brunch, or the holidays. Beautiful on a buffet table, sure to impress your friends and family!

Prep Time15

Cook Time20

Total Time35

Course: Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: pear tart, puff pastry tart

Servings: tarts

Ingredients

3 to 4 ripe pears cleaned, thinly sliced (do not peel), and patted dry
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
17.3 ounce package (2 sheets) puff pastry thawed but still cold
1 egg
1 teaspoon milk
1/4 cup fig jam (warmed slightly, just so it's loose enough to brush)
1/3 cup sliced almonds lightly toasted
powdered sugar for dusting

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a bowl, gently toss the sliced pears with lemon juice, both sugars, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
Unfold both puff pastry and cut in thirds along the vertical creases (so you’ll have 6 strips), then cut those strips in half, so you have 12 rectangles total, 4 1/4-by-3 inches each.
Place the rectangles on the baking sheets about 2 to 3 inches apart.
Score each pastry with a sharp knife, about 1/2-inch from the outer edge, all the way around making a rectangle inside the rectangle - do not cut all the way through. Then using a fork, score the inner rectangle about 6 times to keep it from puffing during cooking.
Whisk together the egg and milk, then brush the edges of each pastry shell with the egg wash.
Arrange the sliced pears on top of the pastry sheets inside the border, slightly overlapping them on top of each other.
Place in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the pears are tender and the puff pastry is puffed up and golden brown.
Remove from the oven and brush with the fig jam, then sprinkle with the sliced almonds. Let cool completely.
Lightly dust with powdered sugar, serve and enjoy!

Notes

Getting uniform pear slices. For fast and uniform pear slices, use a mandolin.

Use a different jam. Apricot jam is wonderful in this recipe, if you don't like fig jam.

Try it with apples. The pears can easily be swapped with apples, if preferred. Pink lady or Honeycrisp would be great. Avoid Red Delicious, which are too mushy, and Granny Smith, which are too tart. Apples are a dense fruit, so make sure you're slicing them thin so they cook properly.

All ovens run differently. Keep an eye on the tarts, they might need more or less time in the oven as directed.

Nutrition