These Pear and Gorgonzola Tarts are a deliciously simple appetizer. Flaky puff pastry topped with a creamy Gorgonzola cream, sweet pears, and a drizzle of honey for the perfect balance of savory and sweet.
Ingredients for these Pear and Gorgonzola Tarts
- Puff pastry: I have used store bought one, as sometimes it’s a good alternative for a quick recipe. However, you can also use homemade dough, check out below to find my favourite dough for this recipe!
- Pears: Medium sized pears are the ideal as each slice will sit perfectly on the tart. I like to leave my pears slices with the skin on. However, this is totally optional!
- Gorgonzola cheese: Creamy fresh gorgonzola chese will make a smooth mixture, a comfortable and delicate bed for the pears.
- Crème Fraîche: This will help make the cheese mixture creamier whilst adding a tangier taste. A good substitute for crème fraîche is cream cheese for a lighter taste. It can also be substituted with sour cream or else strained yogurt.
- Herbs: I use fresh thyme. However, other herbs will work well such as rosemary and oregano.
- Honey: A touch of honey balances out the strong taste from the gorgonzola cheese whilst bringing out the sweetness of the pears.
Want to make the dough yourself instead of store bought?
Here is an alternative!
For this appetizer, I opted to go with a store bought one, as I wanted to keep it as quick and easy as possible. However, you can easily make the dough yourself. The one which I would opt for is this flaky dough below, as I adore how crumbly this type of dough gets, and personally I just love picking up the fallen crumbs from the plate. Besides, this dough is so easy to make and I have used in it in multiple recipes such as: Leek, Mushroom and Feta Hand Pies and Quick Ġbejniet and Peas Puff Pastries .
Pie Dough
- 350 g plain flour
- 230 g cubed cold butter
- 1 tsp salt
- 5 tbsp cold water
- In a large bowl mix together the flour and salt. Add the cubed cold butter and work into the flour. Rub in all the butter in the flour until you have a coarse mixture with small pebbles of butter.
- Slowly start adding a tablespoon at a time of cold water, while forming a smooth dough. Your dough might require less or more water. Once the dough is ready, wrap into some cling film and store in the fridge for at least an hour or two.
FAQs
How to store any leftover Pear and Gorgonzola Tarts
Whenever I have leftovers or I want to take some with me for my lunch break, I like to store them in an airtight container in the fridge for not more than 3 days. I wouldn’t recommend more as the puff pastry will start getting soggy. When I’m ready to enjoy these tarts, I simply heat them up for a few minutes!
Pear and Gorgonzola Tarts
Ingredients
- 1 large sheet puff pastry 300g
- 2 medium pears sliced
- 50 g gorgonzola cheese
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 100 g crème fraîche or cream cheese
- 1 tbsp honey extra to drizzle
- fresh thyme
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200°C or 400°F. Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Blend together the gorgonzola cheese, olive oil, crème fraîche and honey. Season to taste.
- Cut the puff pastry into 10 equal rectangles. Score a border around the puff pastry of about 0.5cm and poke the center part with a fork. Brush each border with the egg wash.
- In the centre spoon in the cheese mixture and top with the sliced pears. I like to leave mine with the skin on, however, this is optional.
- Bake for around 20 minutes. Once they have a slight nice golden brown colour, take them out.
- Sprinkle on top the fresh herbs and drizzle more honey on top.
If you have any questions, feedback or comments on this recipe, please leave a comment below. Please also rate this recipe by double clicking on the stars below. If you did make this recipe, tag @apronandwhisk and hashtag #apronandwhisk, as I’m curious to see what you create! Don’t forget to subscribe to the mailing list down below so to receive the recipe updates straight to your mailbox!
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