These poached pear tarts are a show-stopping dessert that I make with my own easy puff pastry recipe. And they are always a crowd-favorite! This is one of the first recipes I shared on The Flavor Bender almost five years ago. And every time I make it, my husband declares without fail that this is the best dessert he’s ever had. Of course, he’s said that about a dozen different things I’ve made over the years, but it still counts for something right? So I figured it was time for an update on these beautiful Chocolate Stuffed Poached Pear Tarts! The puff pastry base here is buttery and flaky, with a vol-au-vent style case, filled with a soft, delicious frangipane filling. Poached pears are perfectly sweet with a touch of spice and a delightfully luscious, gooey center. Then they are topped with a sweet red wine sauce (which is the poaching liquid reduced). What’s not to love?? This is one of those recipes where the whole tastes even better than its amazingly scrumptious parts! You can also check out my red wine poached pears and saffron poached pears for more ideas on how to serve poached pears! It’s a show stopping dessert if I say so myself. The first time I published this chocolate stuffed poached pear tarts recipe on the blog, I used a circle of puff pastry as the base of each tart. However, over the years I’ve found that using a vol-au-vent style pastry case made these tarts look even more beautiful. And the frangipane bakes into the little pocket in the pastry case, so you can add more of the filling too. These poached pear frangipane tarts are perfect when the weather starts cooling off in the autumn. I meant to update this recipe last year, but never got around to it. Better late than never.
How to make chocolate stuffed poached pear tarts
Preparing the pears
These pears have been poached in red wine, orange juice and spices. This is an important step, since this gives the pears all the flavor. I won’t go into detail about how to poach pears, because I have a very detailed post on red wine poached pears here. In that post, I share information like,
Which pears are best for poaching How to prepare pears for poaching How to poach pears, and spice and flavor variations as well.
The pears for these chocolate stuffed poached pear tarts are also prepared the same way as in my red wine poached pears recipe, but you can use any wine poached pear recipe for these tarts. Once the pears are poached and cooled down, their core is removed using a melon baller, in order to prepare them to be stuffed.
Preparing the filling
This filling is very easy to make. Chocolate chips are mixed with chopped prunes (or raisins) and almonds, plus a little liquid. The liquid can be milk, or bourbon or wine (for a boozy kick for adults) or even a little of the poaching liquid. This mixture is then heated until the chocolate is melted. Mix well, and then the filling is ready to be used.
Frangipane
The frangipane filling is a delicious almond batter that’s baked into a soft cake-like filling. It’s a very popular dessert on its own, but even better when accompanied with fruits. A mixture of almonds, eggs, flour and butter is mixed and piped into puff pastry tarts here to surround the beautiful stuffed pears.
Puff pastry vol-au-vent cases
I love vol-au-vent tarts. They are beautiful and elegant, and because vol-au-vent case forms its own “wall” as it bakes and puffs up, it’s a great casing for so many different types of filling. It’s easy to make vol-au-vent cases at home. You can use store-bought puff pastry for convenience, or make your own homemade puff pastry.
How to make vol-au-vent tart cases for chocolate stuffed poached pear tarts
I made 4 poached pear tarts for this post, and I used eight, 4 or 5 inch circles of puff pastry for these 4 tarts. Four of the circles are the bases for the four tarts. Next, take the next smallest circle cutter (3 inch cutter if you made 4 inch circles, or 4 inch cutter if you made 5 inch circles). Cut out a smaller circle from each of the remaining four puff pastry circles. Make sure you cut a well-centered circle, so that the edges are evenly thick. You’ll be sticking this puff pastry ring on the puff pastry base. Next, brush the four puff pastry bases with egg wash, and carefully place the puff pastry rings on the puff pastry bases. Press down gently to make them stick (take care not to press too hard so that you don’t damage or de-form the pastry). Keep them covered until ready to use. The vol-au-vent cases are now ready.
Baking the stuffed poached pear tarts
Then place each of the stuffed pears in the middle of each tart. Then pipe frangipane just around the pears as you can see in the pictures below, avoiding the puff pastry ring (if you pipe frangipane on the puff pastry ring, it won’t be able to puff up during baking). Brush the pastry with egg wash so that you end up with a shiny, golden brown tart once baked. Bake until the pastry and the top of the frangipane are golden brown, and the frangipane is baked completely as well. If you liked this chocolate stuffed poached pear tart recipe (poached pear frangipane tart), don’t forget to subscribe for new (and free) recipes by entering your email address in the subscription box below the recipe card (and get all these recipes delivered straight to your inbox), so you don’t miss out on a thing. You can find me on FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, PINTEREST, and YOUTUBE too.
