apricot « The Unappreciated Baker

Tuesdays with Dorie: Fold-Over Pear Torte

October 12, 2010 at 10:32 am | Posted in apricot, pear | 2 Comments
Tags: apricot, pear, torte, tuesdays with dorie

Hmm. Pears and apricots in a custard tart. Definitely an interesting combination and something to try. I haven’t real used pears yet this season as they are just coming into season. (It’s still not cold here.) But I love pear tarts and other pear desserts, and the apricots add a nice splash of color.

This week’s recipe was hosted by Cakelaw of Laws of the Kitchen. She chose the Fold-Over Pear Torte. I noticed that a number of bloggers were ambivalent about the use of pears and planned on substituting apples. I love pears, I love when they are ripe and soft and the juice drips everywhere when you bite into them, so yeah, no substitutions, exchanges or refunds (Bonus: what children’s movie is that from?).

Pears ready for dicing.

Well, actually, I did decide to not include the walnuts as I am surrounded by nut-haters, tough they would have added some more texture to the torte.

Rolling out the pie dough.

I realized on Thursday night that I did not have dried apricots in the house, so I decided to take the Little Rocker to the farmer’s market on Friday and get some from the spice store there. They always have the best stuff.

Fruit Filling

Of course there was another factor added to this mix, the weather forecast predicted the first rain of the season for Friday and of course it would start as soon as I picked up the Little Rocker from daycare (it only rains between October and March in Israel).

There we were, mom, kid and stroller, racing through the drip dropping of the beginning of the rain. Racing before the thunder that threatened from the next town over, counting the seconds between the lightning and the thunder. And all the while the Little Rocker is entranced by water dripping on her pants. (Not a bad description – I too can get a masters in creative writing – so there Rocker Dude!)

Filling in the crust.

We made it to the spice store before the rain really started. There we got a whole bunch of delicious things, not just the apricots. We then braved the pending rain to run out to the farmer’s market to get the best pickles ever. Just as we paid for the pickles, the sky opened up in earnest. We raced to the bank and took shelter inside, to the harmony of the Little Rocker saying, “Weening, weening!”

The rain eventually stopped and we were able to make it home with no further mishaps, though it was fun to watch the rain fall (from inside of course).

The base of this torte is a regular pie crust that is rolled out into a springform pan. The fruit (and nuts) are poured into the middle and the custard poured over that.

Custard on the filling and crust folded over it.

I wasn’t 100% sure what Dorie meant by her instructions, when she said to fold the dough over the custard but to leave space (I wasn’t sure how the crust was supposed to defy gravity), so I just lightly laid the crust on the custard and when it baked, it rose when the custard rose as well.

The finished product.

I was not super impressed with this dessert, but everyone else liked it, so they must know what they are talking about. I thought that it needed more texture – that’s probably why the recipe called for walnuts. Something to think about next time.