UPSIDE DOWN PEAR TARTS is an impressive looking fall dessert that is incredibly easy to make with only a few ingredients!
Fall is my absolute favorite time of year for baking. Between the holidays and tailgating with those busy crockpot dinners in between, it’s a wonder if our family even goes out to eat during the fall. One of my favorite fruits to cook with are pears. I’m not a huge fan of eating them raw. I much prefer a juicy, crisp, and slightly tart apple. But, in my opinion, their gritty texture holds up extremely well when cooking.
Using frozen puff pastry is one of my favorite kitchen hacks. Some day I’ll figure out how to make it from scratch. But for now, I won’t tell if you don’t tell. I love baking with it, though. All of those golden flaky layers make me happy.
I’ve made a few different kinds of upside-down cakes before – apple and banana. Both times I cooked up the fruit in a sugar and butter mixture and then poured cake batter on top. This version was slightly different because I transferred everything to a jumbo muffin tin. I almost just cut one big round of pastry dough and placed it on the skillet instead of making mini tarts, but I had to stick to my original plan because the goal was to create little individual desserts.
I was a little nervous when it came time to invert them onto the platter. Its been a few years since I’d had an upside-down cake disaster, but I’m always prepared for the fact that I might completely mess up and end up with an incredibly sticky dessert on the floor. This particular dessert ended up being super easy to flip out onto the platter.
You should have seen my kids when I took these out of the oven. They were circling me like a couple of sharks would with fresh blood in the water. They were so impressed and are such suckers for having their own individual dessert rather than a piece from a big dessert.
Ingredients
- 4 pears d'anjou recommended
- 4 tablespoons butter
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice
- 1 12 inch square sheet of puff pastry dough
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease the wells of jumbo muffin pan.
- Peel and slice pears.
- Using a heavy bottom skillet, melt the butter over medium heat and allow to foam. Once the foam subsides and you start to get brown bits, add the sugar, cinnamon, and pears. Stir to coat. Allow to cook until the sugar fully dissolves and starts to form a syrup consistency. Allow to thicken just a bit but do not allow sugar to burn. Remove from heat.
- Scoop pears and syrup into the six wells of the jumbo muffin tin.
- Using a pairing knife or a round cutter, cut circles out of the dough. Use scraps for a different use. Place one round on top of each well.
- Bake in preheated oven until the dough is a deep golden brown, about 20 minutes.
- Cover the muffin pan with a large tray or serving platter and carefully invert. Serve warm.
Nutrition
If you love pear desserts as much as I do, you’ll want to check out these Ginger Pear Mini Tarts:
As well as my Hazelnut Tea Cake with Moscato Pears:
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