Smoky Blue Cheese and Pear Tart Puff Pastry

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This pear and smoked blue cheese puff pastry tart is a delicious and easy-to-make recipe. The sweet pears and salty blue cheese are a perfect combination, and the puff pastry is flaky and golden brown. This tart is sure to impress your guests!

If seeking ‘kitchen pièce de résistance,’ break out of the boring with this quick bake, which is uniquely different and truly delightful! The sweet pear and tangy bite of the blue cheese is a gastronomic masterpiece relying on only a handful of fresh ingredients to achieve ‘party-in-your-mouth’ perfection.

To reduce prep and cook time, I strongly recommend using a sheet of puff pastry. The pre-made kind. If however, you are a whiz with pastry dough, feel free to make your own!

So check out this pear and blue cheese puff pastry tart recipe step-by-step along with me.

When baking with pears, and for this pear puff pastry tart in particular, seek out Bartlett or Comice. They are among the most common varieties found in stores and offer the most complimentary flavor alongside the smoked blue cheese.

And speaking of smoked blue, there are a number of brands cheeses that are now specializing in smoked varieties. I was shocked to find the smoked blue in my grocer’s cheese carousel, so I recommend starting in ‘the fancy section’ when you begin your search.

If the idea of pear and blue cheese is not catching your fancy, use this recipe base to play with your own fruit and cheese combinations. I also recommend trying this recipe with Honeycrisp apples and smoked Gouda cheese or finely shredded smoked cheddar!

Ingredients for Pear and Blue Cheese Puff Pastry

• Puff pastry – one sheet, pre-made
• All-purpose flour – for dusting
• Bartlett or Comice pears – sliced thinly
• Brown sugar – compliments the blue cheese while neutralizing the smoke
• Smoked Blue cheese – smoked gorgonzola is also a good option, divided
• Sliced almonds – add a lovely texture
• Fresh thyme leaves – bright, vivid, necessary
• Regular or hot honey – a finishing ingredient that caps the entire flavor profile

Equipment You Will Need

This mouthwatering pear and smoked blue cheese puff pastry tart recipe uses a handful of kitchen staples. Be sure to preheat your oven, and then grab a paring knife and mandolin (if you have one), a baking sheet, parchment paper, a spoon, a pizza cutter or butter knife, and a pastry brush.

Tips for Success

• Use a good quality puff pastry sheet.
• Make sure the pears are ripe but not overripe.
• Don’t overfill the tart, or the dough beneath the filling will bake unevenly.
• Do not use an egg wash when working with puff pastry, only water, as the weight of the egg will affect the pastry’s ability to properly rise.
• Bake the tart until the crust is golden brown and the filling is heated through.

How to Make Pear Puff Pastry

Before You Begin

Preheat your oven to 425°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

Wash the pears before thinly slicing them and removing the cores. I did ¼-inch to ½-inch thick slices.

The first few slices will have a hole in their middles from where the woody core was removed, but these will soon be filled with crumbled smoked cheese and sliced
almonds.

Prepare the Pastry Dough

Unroll your puff pastry and use a rolling pin to roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface. Cut in half resulting in two roughly equal squares and place them on the baking sheet with about 2-inches in between them.

NOTE: the touch of the pin need only be light; do not roll more any more than 1/8-inch thin.

Using a pizza cutter or a dull butter knife, score without cutting a 1-inch wide ‘frame’ inside each edge. It doesn’t need to be perfect.

The end result will give you a field to work within and gorgeous puffy-crispy sides. Not a word but I think you get what I mean 😉

Build the Tarts

Sprinkle the center of the pastry square or ‘the field’ with brown sugar before layering the pears onto the pastry dough. Again, we are going for rough and rustic. When layering the sliced pears, just try not to impose over the faintly scored lines.

Add 4 tablespoons of the crumbled smoked cheese atop the pears. Sprinkle with 4 tablespoons of sliced almonds each.

Don’t go too crazy. Remember that less is always best. Blue softens incredibly fast and if you feel like you need to add a little extra post-bake the heat from the tart will hasten it softening.

Use a pastry brush or paper towel to lightly brush room temperature water along the border. Sprinkle the 1 remaining tablespoon of brown sugar over both tarts being sure this time to intentionally get some along the borders.

Bake the Pastries

Bake until the borders of the pastries begin to turn golden brown. They will generally begin to crisp and form color after about 12 to 15-minutes, but every oven is different.

Remove from the heat and shimmy onto flat serving trays, platters, or rustic wooden cutting boards. Drizzle with honey (or hot honey for a soupçon of spicy!) and then sprinkle with fresh thyme.

After a brief 10-minute rest, use a pizza cutter or sharp knife to cut each tart into fourths. Make your cuts from side to side for squares or corner to corner for triangles.

How to Store and Serve Puff Pastry Tart

Serve warm or at room temperature. Regardless, it’s best when consumed slowly and after a handful of minutes once pulled from the oven.

I kick things off with a sparkling rosé, then make my move to the tart after 10 – 15 minutes or so. Nothing burns your mouth faster than molten cheese, so seriously give it time.

This recipe yields two individual tarts. One tart will feed 1 person as a light meal and perhaps paired with a small salad. If electing to serve as an appetizer, each tarte will yield 4 pieces. The method is easily doubled or tripled to accommodate with each fresh sheet of puff pastry dough.

Store leftovers should you have any, in the refrigerator in a covered container for up to 3 days. To reheat, place on a baking sheet and pop in a 325°F oven for 6 to 8 minutes.

Modifying the Norm to Make It Not Entirely Average

• Turn these tarts into savories all the way by layering with vibrant herbs like tarragon or rosemary, cheese, and pair with sturdy vegetables sliced into ribbons like asparagus or carrot.
• Cut 4 smaller squares from the full sheet of puff pastry creating 2 pastry pockets (2 tops, 2 bottoms). Encase all of the ingredients within the dough and crimp around the outside edges for a grab-and-go handheld snack.

Frequently Asked Questions