A pudding as addictive as this is not for the abstemious nor for those who would eschew excesses of sugar and fat. This is phat….hot and tempting, dripping with butter and soft brown sugar, born out of a lasciviously lazy hunger which is an ideal genealogy for such a disgraceful dessert. I came upon this mongrel of a tatin by way of sucre vergeoise, a soft dark sugar for which I’m not sure of a replacement, which I used in a pineapple upside down cake that I had recently cooked The simplicity of melting sweet butter in a pan and mixing into it the thick soft brown sugar with a wooden spoon rather than waiting anxiously for the magic of caramelisation to happen, or not, was the first thing that attracted me to this temptress. Then came the ease of just laying the pears on top of the buttery sugar mixture, covering the lot with a sheet of ready made puff pastry and putting it into a hot oven. This is exactly what lazy hunger demands……and all that remains is to find something suitably lascivious with which to occupy oneself for the 35 minutes or so until the hot oven disgorges a glossy, sinful and impossibly moreish tart….one could try to only have one slice.
*apologies to the Rolling Stones for using this wonderful line
.Pear Tatin…..with a nod to upside down cake
Ingredients:
4 Conference pears cut in half
20gms unsalted butter
140gms sucre vergoise ….this is a very soft sugar obtained from the sugar beet
which can be dark or light in colour. Replace with a moist brown sugar which pinches easily into lumps.
Packet of frozen puff pastry ….circular if using a tatin tin as I do.
Preheat oven to 200C. I use a pizza oven setting at 180C that creates a very hot oven cooking simultaneously on the top and bottom.
- Peel, core and halve the pears.
- Put the butter in the tatin tin over a medium heat until the butter is melted.
- Stir the brown sugar into the melted butter and take the pan off the heat.
- Place the pear halves in a circle in the buttery sugar, rounded side down.
- Lay the puff pastry over the pears, tucking the pastry in around the sides, and cut a couple of slits in the top of the pastry to let out steam.
- Put the tin in the preheated oven and cook for 30- 35 minutes or until the pastry is well browned and the juices have become thick and sticky.
- Turn out onto a plate being aware that there will be juices that may run over the edge of the plate.
Food, Photography & France 
Just add custard….
….that would do absolutely no harm at all:)
‘Lasciviously lazy hunger’ . . . . oh, Roger, I can just see you standing for the whole 35 minutes in front of your oven window waiting for this beauty to emerge: do hope you so enjoyed both the photography and the demolishing . . . . and there am I, this ‘abstemious one’, who at present does not have a spoonful of any kind of sugar anywhere in the house . . . 🙂 !
…I’ve been very remiss in not remembering that many of my friends and readers are intolerant……:)
*big smile* Intolerance perchance has nought to do with the status quo . . . . and both the photo and the tale as usual were worth waiting for to read ere sinking into sweet dreams . . .
..thanks, as usual, for your lovely comments. My “intolerance” suggestion was, as I’m sure you realise, just a joke ….so many people are intolerant of so many foodstuffs…I’m just intolerant of so many people:)
I think Keith prefers this kind of brown sugar nowadays. Pink Floyd might like a nice pear too!
excellent…..yes, I think Keith is probably not taking sugar any more:)
I think he sticks to JD and tobacco now …and perhaps some weed.
No, nlt custard – crème fraîche – a big dollop …
I’m not a custard guy myself, but Jenny is very keen on custard….so I make good creme anglaise and I have creme fraiche…:)
Divine…
Thanks, C:)
I damned nearly booked a flight when I saw this on Instagram. The only thing that stopped me was the knowledge that you’d already have scoffed it by the time I could get there. Thumbs up.
Excellent….how nice to hear, Linda…sorry you missed the flight:)
here we have it again , Master Roger produced another sensual tart and post
…cheers, Cornelia….this is a good one:)
I have sugar problems Roger. This is not helping. But then again, you can’t always get what you want….
I like it, like it…yes I do! I was overdoing sugar a couple of years ago. Following a blood test I cut down rigorously and have no problem now. Although I make these desserts Jenny and I will only have a small slice each at dinner so a tarte tatin will last over 4 days. The only other sugar I have is in fruit. I have to say, I feel a lot better for the change.