Chocolate pear and pecan pie - recipe

This chocolate pear and pecan pie is an amazing dessert: the caramelized pears and the nuts pair beautifully with the shortcrust pastry and the chocolate filling! Find this and many more recipes with pictures on the English version of the Giallozafferano App
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Prepare the sweet shortcrust pastry: add the diced butter, cold from the fridge, to the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, along with the powdered sugar. Start the mixer and beat until creamy. Separate the egg white from the yolk and add the latter to the mixing bowl, along with a pinch of salt, the almond meal and the cake flour. Transfer to a work surface and knead into a smooth dough. Form into a flattened ball and wrap in cling film; place in the fridge to rest for at least half an hour.
Move on to the filling, peel and core 2 pears; cut each pear into quarters to make 8 wedges. Now halve the pear, remove the stem and cut each half in half again lengthwise; remove the seeds and core. Do the same with the other pear, of course. The pears are ready, so pour the water into a pan and add the brown sugar. Let the sugar melt in the water, then add the butter; once melted, add the pears. Cook until caramelized, being careful not to break them.
Roll out the dough into a circle and line a buttered tart pan, about 10 inches (25 cm) in diameter. Lift the dough and press into the pan, trim the excess dough by running a knife around the edge of the pan and use the extra to patch any holes. Pierce the bottom with a fork and bake the pastry case in a preheated static oven at 375°F (190°C) for 20 minutes; once baked, we’ll add the rest of the ingredients and return to the oven.
Now prepare the creamy chocolate pudding: heat the milk and the heavy cream in a saucepan, add the seeds from a vanilla pod, as well as the pod, and let it absorb the flavour. In a bowl, combine the egg and the sugar, mix and add to the milk and cream mixture. Remove the vanilla pod and add the chopped dark chocolate. The chocolate filling is ready!
Here’s the cooled pastry case, arrange the caramelized pears, with the pointed ends towards the centre. Add the caramel and lastly the creamy chocolate pudding. Now bake the pie in a preheated static oven at 300°F (150°C) for 40 minutes. Add the pecan nuts 5 minutes before the end of the baking time: arrange them on top of the chocolate filling, which should have set by now, with the rounded side up. While the pie is baking, let’s see together the ingredients needed for this recipe.
Ingredients
For a 10-inch (25 cm) tart pan
For the almond shortcrust pastry
- 2 ¼ cups (260 g) of cake flour
- ⅓ cup (40 g) of almond meal
- 1 ½ sticks (160 g) of cold butter + 1 knob for greasing
- 1 cup (120 g) of powdered sugar
- 1 egg
- ¼ tbsp (4 g) of salt
For the chocolate pudding
- 6 tbsp (90 g) of fresh milk
- ¾ cup (180 g) of heavy cream
- 1 whole egg + 1 yolk
- 2 ¾ tbsp (35 g) of sugar
- 2 oz (60 g) of dark chocolate
- 1 vanilla pod
For caramelizing
- ½ cup (75 g) of dark brown sugar
- 1 ⅓ tbsp (20 g) of water
- 2 tsp (10 g) of butter
- 2 pears
For garnishing
- ¾ cups (70 g) of pecan nuts