Simple Pear Tart Recipe With Fresh Pears

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This pear tart recipe uses fresh pears and a few pantry staples to make a sweet, fruity, deliciously simple dessert completely from scratch. A simple, frugal, tasty way to use up some pears when they’re abundant and in season!

This pear tart recipe uses fresh pears and a few pantry staples to make a sweet, fruity, deliciously simple dessert completely from scratch. A simple, frugal, tasty way to use up some pears when they're abundant and in season!

Guest Post by Tara

Easy Pear Tart With Fresh Pears

While I typically prefer eating seconds of the main dish instead of saving room for dessert, sometimes I need something sweet. That’s usually when I call on my husband. Truthfully, he’s the real baker in the family. I do the cooking. He does the baking. Yes, I married a good one:)

He spent some time in culinary school and worked for a large baking and catering company in town. When we were dating, he had me hook, line, and sinker when I tried his homemade cheesecake.

Oh wow! So good. I’m not saying that’s why I married him, but it sure didn’t hurt knowing he knew his way around a kitchen!

But this week, I decided to turn the tables a bit and do some baking by making this simple (but delicious) pear tart.

Simple Desserts Are Best

Dessert recipes can’t be complicated if I’m the one making them. Truthfully, simple cooking is my style, whether it involves sweets or not. I like to use familiar ingredients with only a few steps that still produce tasty results.

This pear tart recipe is one such simple dessert that starts with a buttery short dough crust that can be made in the food processor or by hand. The dough is soft and easy to work with when pressing it out in the cute little tart pan.

Then, you simply arrange peeled and sliced fresh pears in a pretty fan pattern.

Finally, you sprinkle the buttery sugar topping on top let it sink into the pears, and make a shimmering sweet sauce as it bakes. Simple and delicious.

Oh my gosh, where has this recipe been all my life!!!! Gone before the end of the day and so easy to make! I did make the crust in my food processer, came out lovely!!!

Luanne, Little House Living reader
Pear Tart Recipe

Ingredients in the Pear Tart Recipe

  • All-purpose Flour. Any good flour will do in this recipe. You can also use gluten-free flour if you want to make this recipe gluten-free.
  • Salt and Sugar. This will help to improve the flavor of your tart crust.
  • Butter. Don’t add salt if using salted butter. You can also replace the butter with shortening if you are dairy-free.
  • Egg. This will help bind your tart crust together and can’t be left out.
  • Cold Water. You might need a little more than what is called for if your crust is too dry.
  • Pears. The main star! Make sure they are ripe and not mushy.

Such and elegant and delicious dessert. My daughter made this for Christmas Eve dessert, and everyone loved it! Hoping it becomes a Christmas Eve tradition, although seriously, we simply must enjoy this more than once a year.

Suzanne, Little House Living reader
Pear Tart Recipe

How to Make a Pear Tart Step By Step

For the crust: Mix the dry ingredients. Cut in butter and then mix in the egg yolk and water. It should be a stiff but workable dough ball.

Roll the dough with your hands or with a rolling pin out to about 9 inches on a floured surface or a piece of parchment paper and place in a tart pan or a pie pan if you don’t have a tart pan.

Press dough evenly up the sides of the tart pan with your fingertips. Chill dough in the freezer while slicing the pears.

Pear Tart Recipe

For the filling: Peel and slice pears. Remove the crust from the freezer and arrange the pears in an overlapping fan pattern. Mix the remaining flour, sugar, and butter in a small bowl.

Pear Tart Recipe

Cover the pears with the flour-sugar-butter mixture by crumbling it overtop. (You may not use all of the filling). You could also top it with sliced almonds if you prefer.

Bake in the oven at 400ºF in the oven for approximately 35 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbly and shiny. You may want to put a baking sheet under the tart while it’s baking to prevent the filling from bubbling into your oven.

Pear Tart Recipe

Let the pear tart cool in the tart pan on a wire rack until fully cooled before cutting into it.

Easy and light. I added some Almond Liquor to the crumble for a little extra “something, something” and some fresh whipped cream. Great recipe for when you have too many pears in October! Thank you.

Mary Jo, Little House Living reader

Toppings for the Pear Tart

For an extra special touch, top this Pear Tart with a dollop of homemade Whipped Cream.

A large scoop of vanilla ice cream is always a great topping, especially in the summer.

You could also make a drizzle or glaze to make it a little sweeter. Mix milk (or an alternative) with some powdered sugar and some vanilla extract. Drizzle over the top when it’s finished cooling.

If you have some extra pears right now, try this Pear Tart Recipe! It’s so delicious and so simple.

I made it yesterday exactly as described. Was absolutely delicious! LOVE the crust! I think I’ll try this crust for a pie next.
Thank you for this recipe!!

Yvonne, Little House Living reader
Pears to Dehydrate

More Fresh Pear Recipes

Do you have an abundance of pears right now? Here are some more pear dessert recipes to try!

What are some of your favorite pear dessert recipes?

Dehydrated Pears

Ways to Preserve Pears

Or preserve your pears with the following recipes:

Need to print this Pear Tart recipe? Grab it below!

Pear Tart Recipe
4.77 from 21 votes
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Simple Pear Tart Recipe With Fresh Pears Recipe

This pear tart recipe uses fresh pears and a few pantry staples to make a sweet, fruity, deliciously simple dessert completely from scratch.

Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword pear tart recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Servings 8 servings
Calories 348 kcal
Creator Tara

Ingredients

Crust

  • 1 ½ cups flour
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • ½ cup butter
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 2 tbsp cold water (or more if needed)

Filling

  • 3 pears
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • 3/4 cup sugar

Instructions

For the Crust

  1. Mix together the dry ingredients. Cut in butter with a pastry cutter and then mix in the egg yolk and water. It should be a stiff but workable dough ball.

  2. Roll out to about 9 inches and place in tart pan. Press dough evenly up the sides of the tart pan with your fingertips. Chill dough in the freezer while slicing the pears.

For the Filling

  1. Peel and slice pears. Remove crust from freezer and arrange pears in an overlapping fan pattern. Mix remaining flour, sugar and butter in a small bowl.

  2. Cover the pears with the flour-sugar-butter mixture by crumbling it overtop. (You may not use all of the filling). Bake at 400ºF for approximately 35 minutes or until crust is golden and filling is bubbly and shiny.

Nutrition Facts
Simple Pear Tart Recipe With Fresh Pears Recipe
Amount Per Serving
Calories 348 Calories from Fat 135
% Daily Value*
Fat 15g23%
Saturated Fat 9g56%
Trans Fat 1g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1g
Monounsaturated Fat 4g
Cholesterol 62mg21%
Sodium 189mg8%
Potassium 112mg3%
Carbohydrates 51g17%
Fiber 3g13%
Sugar 28g31%
Protein 3g6%
Vitamin A 491IU10%
Vitamin C 3mg4%
Calcium 17mg2%
Iron 1mg6%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Very good recipe. I used King Arthur’s gluten-free measure-for-measure flour with great results. I did have to bake it a bit longer, but I think my oven runs a bit cool, so it could’ve been due to that. Did not take long to make, and within 24 hours it’s almost all been eaten!

Jonah, Little House Living reader

Storing Leftover Pear Tart

Cover any leftover Pear Tart with plastic wrap or a beeswax wrap and store in the fridge until you are ready to enjoy again. This tart should last up to 4 days in the fridge.

Common Questions About Baking With Pears

What are the best pears for tarts?

Any ripe pear will work well for tarts. Since these are simple recipes, a good pear with strong flavor will work the best.

What can I do with a surplus of pears?

If you are tired of making pear recipes, you can make pearsauce. You’ll make it the same way you make applesauce. It’s a delicious alternative that uses a large amount of pears.

Do pears have to be ripe to bake?

If the pears you are using are not ripe, they will be hard to cut and have very little flavor when baked. Ripe pears will be the best flavor and texture.

What are your favorite pear recipes? How else do you use fresh pears? Add to the list in the comments section below!

Skillet Meals

Tara is a stay at home mom of two children, a wife, and a follower of Jesus. Her passions lie in teaching others about real food, non-toxic living, and all things homemade, while challenging the idea of the “picture perfect” mother.

This Simple Pear Tart Recipe was originally published on Little House Living in August 2014. It has been updated as of October 2023.

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Recipe Rating




59 Comments

  1. After looking at this, I can’t believe I have actually never made a dessert recipe with pears! I have done lots of stuff with peaches and apples, but never pears. I do enjoy pears, but I tend to forget about them. This dessert looks really good!

    1. 5 stars
      Lovely pear tart I made 2x now. Easy and great tasting. I especially like the crust!
      I was going to post a photo but I cannot figure out how.
      The only change I made the 2nd time was slivered almonds on the top!☘️

  2. I love pears! I made some pear and blueberry filled gingerbread tarts last year. Your tart looks delicious! Any dessert with pears sounds wonderful to me.

  3. Visiting from Savoring Saturdays . . . our neighborhood pear tree is covered with fruit, so these will be great ideas for using some up. I love fruit tarts!

  4. That tart is so pretty! I wish we had access to freshly picked pears. Thanks for sharing @DearCreatives party.

  5. Oh this looks so good- I love just about anything pear-related! Thanks so much for linking up at Snickerdoodle Sunday and I hope you’ll come back this week with new project posts!

    Sarah (Sadie Seasongoods)

  6. What a great tip! Hello, my name is Misty, from The LadyPrefers2Save,and I’m one of the new co-hosts for the Merry Monday Linky Party! Thanks for linking up at the Merry Monday’s Linky Party this week. Have an awesome week!

  7. This looks so mouthwateringly delicious. Thanks for sharing at Inspire Me Wednesday. Featuring you in this week’s issue.

  8. Hi, I made this dessert two days ago and it’s barely there; the family has been woofing it down. Yum. I added 1/4 tsp. of ground ginger to the sugar mixture. Next time I will try nutmeg. Thanks for posting this. It was so easy. Sandy

  9. can you advise me if one can use red Bartlett pears for this desert and maybe more ideas recipes for this type pear. I have acquired 80 pounds of these and even passing them out I will still have a lot to work with. Right now they are firm and need more ripening.
    Thanks

  10. Oh, this is soooo gooood! Pears are 39 cents per pound right now in my area and this fits the bill so nicely. I bake the tart on a lower rack in my oven the second time around because I found the middle rack left the bottom crust still too moist for my liking. The pears were juicy so that might have been an issue in the moistness of the crust too. But, since the pears were at peak sugar, it was delicious. BTW, this works with canned pie fillings and apples that have been par boiled or cooked down a bit in butter before adding to the tart and baking. Thanks for the recipe. Sandy

  11. Such and elegant and delicious dessert. My daughter made this for Christmas Eve dessert, and everyone loved it! Hoping it becomes a Christmas Eve tradition, although seriously, we simply must enjoy this more than once a year.

  12. I sliced too many pears for a pear custard, so was looking for a second recipe. Thought this one looked good for mini pie tarts. But you seem to have left out a step or two.

    For one thing, the ingredient list has the measurements, and the instructions state “add dry ingredients” and then later you state ” mix the remaining sugar, flour, butter in bowl” — what remaining sugar, flour, butter? No measurements given for these “remaining” ingredients and how are they remaining? There is no mention to put any portion of the dry ingredients aside for later.

    Then you don’t say when to sprinkle this remaining ingredient mix on –before or after you pour the filling over the pears?

    For me some vital steps are missing. You’ve made this recipe before so know how, but if you read this exactly recipe as written out loud to someone making this for the first time you will see what is missing. (Also a good habit to do before publishing any recipe.)

    It seems like a great recipe, and I can improvise from it, but I see this sort of lack of clarity with online recipes quite often–either no one has made it to find the flaws, or everyone is too polite to say anything in the comments.

    I’m just trying to help out.

    1. I agree. Looks wonderful, but some key steps are definitely missing. I really want to try this, but what are the filling ingredients?

    2. I know what you mean by “missing steps”. I followed the recipe exactly and although it taste good, I had to drain the liquid twice so all we have is sugar pears. I was going to remake and mix in the filling with the pears but was just too disappointed

    3. I just made this. The remaining ingredients are listed under “filling” along with the pears: 2T Butter, 2T Flour and 3/4 C Sugar.

  13. I had excess pears and we were having people for dinner. After getting home from work I followed this recipe and the result was amazing!!! And I am new to shortcrust pastry. Thank you and now I am planning to trial a strawberry tart….

    1. 5 stars
      The pear tart sounds delicious. Do you have a favorite gluten free pie crust recipe? Thank you! Wishing you and your family all the best.

    1. You could try slicing them and adding them in a similar way (if you canned them in halves), but it’s possible they may be too mushy after cooking again.

  14. I am going to try and make this today. the only thing is when I print the recipe its not compete. The ingredients for the filling is not there. Its in the mist but not the printed recipe itself.

  15. 5 stars
    Easy and light. I added some Almond Liquor to the crumble for a little extra “something, something” and some fresh whipped cream. Great recipe for when you have too many pears in October! Thank you.

  16. A great tart. I made my crust in a food processor, using cold butter. I also added a 1/4 teaspoon of almond extract. I managed to have enough for two 9” tarts.
    The second time I made it I melted raspberry jam and painted the bottom of the crust under the pears.
    So simple and so good. It will be making frequent appearances at my house.
    Thank you so much.

  17. 5 stars
    I made it yesterday exactly as described. Was absolutely delicious! LOVE the crust! I think I’ll try this crust for a pie next.
    Thank you for this recipe!!

  18. Oh my gosh, where has this recipe been all my life!!!! Gone before the end of the day and so easy to make! I did make the crust in my food processer, came out lovely!!!

  19. 5 stars
    Neighbor brought me pears had no idea what I was going to do with them. My husband suggested a tart. Never made one before. Came out beautifully, so pretty. Made one two days in a row. Shared with the neighbors. Easy, dashed it with cayenne pepper. YUM!! Thanks.

  20. 4 stars
    Delicious and came together quickly. If I make again I think cutting the sugar for filling to 1/3 cup would still easily work. Also the suggestion to add ginger or nutmeg sound intriguing. Will definitely make again with my Misfits pears

  21. Just made my first ever tart using this recipe and it’s delicious! I used some overripe packhams and a lonely passionfruit I found in my fridge. A tad sweet so I will reduce the sugar-butter sprinkle to about half in future (used two-third this round). Thank you for an amazing recipe and I’m now hooked on making fruit tarts!

  22. 5 stars
    I made this last night! My husband actually said “wow this is amazing! you would have won an award if you had been on one of your favorite cooking shows”!! With so little ingredients this is a awesome pear recipe! I had a box of pears I purchased from a fundraiser and they were not getting eaten quick enough so I found this recipe. Will definitely make it again. What I especially like about it is that it is not loaded with lots of spices. Just pears, sugar, flour and butter. And I did as the recipe suggested and didn’t put all the “flour-sugar-butter” mixture on it.

  23. 5 stars
    Very good recipe. I used King Arthur’s gluten-free measure-for-measure flour with great results. I did have to bake it a bit longer, but I think my oven runs a bit cool, so it could’ve been due to that. Did not take long to make, and within 24 hours it’s almost all been eaten!

  24. I’m going to use a store bought pie crust. Should I bake it first and then fill and bake again with the pears? I don’t want a soggy middle. Thoughts?

  25. 5 stars
    Just made this because I got a box of fresh pears and did not know what to do with them. This was pretty simple to make recipe and it surprised me at how good it tasted. I did think about adding cinnamon to it and did that after baking. Next time will add in topping and bake. Very nice and relatively low calorie dessert. Thank you

  26. 5 stars
    Excellent tart recipe! I did the crust and topping in the food processor which made it so easy. Also made it gluten free with a couple minor adjustments. Thank you so much for this recipe!

  27. 4 stars
    This came out very pretty and very tasty.

    For those who have never made it before, its helpful to put in some indicator of doneness and possibly a note about how thick to slice the pears.

    Mine was quite good after refrigeration.

    I think, as with the commenters above, there are endless variations, with spice, nuts and fruit!

  28. 4 stars
    Came out wonderful for the most part, only problem was that the crust was not baked well enough toward the middle. Wondering whether I should have blind-baked the crust first?

  29. 4 stars
    This is a delicious recipe. I agree with some of the other writers who said it was way too juicy. I know the flower, sugar and butter is supposed to help with that but on my first two tries it didn’t.

    My neighbor gave us five huge Comice pears so I decided to make another with them. Comice pears are incredibly juicy and sweet and I was concerned about the crust being ruined. So for the pear filling, I replaced one tablespoon of flour with one tablespoon of corn starch for thickening.

    It worked great.

  30. 4 stars
    Thank you for the recipe. This is absolutely delicious! My husband said it is amazing, after he licked the plate. I used three large ripe bartlett pears and made it in a nine inch spring form pan. I made the crust with my food processor. I ended up baking it for 50 minutes at 400°. The filling tastes amazing and the outside edge of the crust was also delicious. My only problem was the crust in the middle was either very soggy or under baked. I am wondering if I should add a bit more flour or some cornstarch to the filling or if I should try partially blind baking the crust before filling it. I would love to make this for Christmas dinner, but don’t want to serve a soggy crust!

  31. 5 stars
    I made this for Christmas dinner and my family loved it! The crust was tender and buttery and the filling was perfectly sweet. Also, a beautiful presentation. Definitely will make again.

  32. 5 stars
    I have made this recipe a number of times, using apples, pears and berries. It is always a hit. And so easy. I made a pear and an apple for my last dinner party and everyone requested the recipe.