Pear Tarts

    It has been a while since we have had our family over for a gathering.  The last few weekends have been busy with grad school and wedding festivities.  But this weekend, I wanted to set some time aside for a small gathering for dessert.  One recipe caught my eye from the October issue of Cooking Light.  It seemed simple enough and called for pears, which are in season and delicious at the moment.  Let me start off by saying that I have used phyllo dough before, but it's been a while.  So when the recipe called for 12 sheets of phyllo, I bought 3 boxes that said that they contained two sheets per box.  I figured I would have to adapt the recipe but it seemed that the recipe was calling for an awful lot of phyllo.  Well, I had 6 rolls of dough defrosting on the counter and boy was I surprised when I opened the first roll and there was more than enough phyllo right there!  I make myself laugh sometimes.

Pear Tarts

Ingredients
2/3 cup almonds. toasted
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp butter, divided
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
1 egg
12 sheets phyllo dough
Cooking Spray
2 pears, cored and sliced thinly
2 tbsp apple jelly

Method
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees
1. Place almonds and sugar in the food processor until it is finely ground.  Add 1 1/2 teaspoons of butter, vanilla, salt, and the egg.  Continue to process the mixture until it is a thick paste.
2. Melt the rest of the butter in the microwave.  Arrange 1 sheet of phyllo dough on a large surface.  Brush the sheet with a light layer of butter.  Layer another sheet of dough on top of the first and brush again with butter.  Fold the sheets in half to form a 9 x 7 stack of dough.  Next fold in the edges (loosely) to form a tart.
3. Place the tart on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.  Spray with cooking spray and continue the process to form additional tarts.
4. Spoon 2 tablespoons of the almond paste onto each tart.  Top with 6 slices of pear, overlapping slightly.
5. Bake the tarts for 23 minutes or until the dough is golden and crispy.
6. Melt the apple butter in the microwave and brush each tart evenly before serving.

The Taste Test
     I love the crispiness of phyllo.  This was a relatively simple recipe once I understood the directions and the tarts were a big hit with our guests.  I'd like to try these again with other toppings-I'm thinking Nutella and berries...