My kids love to eat any kind of pears ever since they were little, Anjou, Barlett, or Asian. Pears are all very sweet and tasty no matter how you eat them. You can enjoy them raw, cook, bake, poach, etc. They are also a good source of fibre and vitamin C. It’s pretty hard not to love them ! Fall is the season for pears, so I used some Barlett pears and made this Spiced Pear Tart. I spiced up a basic short crust  for the tart shell. The dough freezes well, so you can make it ahead of time. It can also turn into yummy cookies ! So don’t throw away the trimmings after you make the tarts. Just gather them together, roll it, cut it with cookie cutters and bake for 8-10 minutes at 350°F ! I baked mine into leaves and used them as garnish ! You can adjust the amount of spices used according to your taste, both in the tart shell and the fillings. I actually would prefer a bit spicier, but my daughter said this is perfect for her palate. Well, I have to listen to my little boss ! The tarts taste delicious on their own, but my little boss likes them with vanilla ice cream, even better !  

Makes four 4-inch tarts or eight 2-inch mini tarts    

For the tart shell 

• 120 g cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces 
• 75 g granulated sugar 
• 2 egg yolks 
• 180 g cake and pastry flour 
• 3 g ground ginger 
• 2 g ground cinnamon 
• Pinch of cloves
• Pinch of nutmeg 

For the fillings 

• About 3-4 pears (wash, peel, core and cut into chunks)
• 60 g brown sugar 
• 3 g ground ginger 
• 3 g ground cinnamon 
• 5 mL pure vanilla extract 

For the crust 

• 60 g quick oats 
• 30 g all-purpose flour 
• 30 g brown sugar 
• 30 g unsalted butter, melted 

1. To make the tart shells, sift together flour and spices 
2. Mix together cold butter and sugar using a wooden spoon until blended
3. Mix in egg yolks
4. Add flour mixture all at once, mix, then transfer onto a surface and gently knead dough together until everything just combined
5. Wrap with plastic wrap, refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours or overnight
6. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350ºF
7. Knead dough until pliable
8. Roll dough out to about 1/8 inch in thickness on a floured surface, dock with a fork
9. Place inside slightly greased tart molds, trim off excess  
10. Bake for about 8 minutes, let cool
11. Meanwhile, prepare the fillings by mixing pear chunks with brown sugar, ginger, cinnamon and vanilla 
12. Spoon into cooled tart shell 
13. Mix all crust ingredients together and spoon on top of fillings
14. Bake at 350ºF for about 25 minutes until golden 
15. Serve warm