Cranberry Pear Tart With Gingerbread Crust

Total Time: 2 hrs Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 1 hr 30 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 10
• 4 cups cranberry juice cocktail
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 4 inches cinnamon sticks
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 4 large firm ripe pears, halved lengthwise, peeled, cored and put into a bowl of ice water acidulated with
• 1/2 lemon, juice of
• 1/3 cup dried cranberries
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons firmly packed brown sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 3/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter, cold, cut into bits
• 1 large egg yolk
• 2 tablespoons dark molasses
• 3 large eggs
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon freshly grated orange zest

Recipe

• 1 make pear mixture: in a saucepan, combine cranberry juice, sugar, cinnamon stick and lemon juice.
• 2 bring to boil and add pears.
• 3 heat until it just comes to simmer and simmer gently for 10-15 minutes, or until the pears are just tender.
• 4 remove from heat, stir in cranberries and let mixture cool.
• 5 chill, covered, for at least 8 hours.
• 6 (may be made 2 days in advance) crust: blend together flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, allspice and salt.
• 7 cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal.
• 8 in a small bowl, stir together egg yolk and the molasses.
• 9 add to flour mixture and mix until combined well but still crumbly.
• 10 turn out onto 10 inch tart pan with removable rim and press onto bottom and up sides of pan.
• 11 chill crust for 30 minutes.
• 12 preheat oven to 375°f.
• 13 prick crust all over with fork, line with foil, fill with pie weights or dry beans, and bake in lower third of oven for 15 minutes.
• 14 remove foil and pie weights and bake crust a further 10 minutes.
• 15 let cool.
• 16 transfer poached pears and half the cranberries with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain, discard cinnamon, and reserve syrup with remaining cranberries.
• 17 in a small bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar, sour cream, milk, vanilla, zest and a pinch of salt.
• 18 stir in the drained cranberries.
• 19 preheat oven to 325°f.
• 20 spoon half of custard into the crust.
• 21 slice 4 of the pear halves crosswise on the diagonal, arrange decoratively over the custard alternately with the unsliced pear halves, and spoon remaining custard around pears.
• 22 bake tart in middle of oven for 50-55 minutes or until custard is just set.
• 23 remove rim of pan and let cool.
• 24 (may be made up to 8 hours in advance, cooled completely and chilled) boil reserved syrup until reduced to 1 cup and is jelly-like in consistency and transfer cranberries with slotted spoon to a plate to cool.
• 25 brush pears with some of cranberry glaze and arrange cranberries around edge of tart.
• 26 serve warm or chilled.