With a cocoa almond crust, vanilla crème fraîche custard, and mulled wine poached pears, this gluten-free pear custard tart makes a showstopping holiday dessert. Thanks to Bi-Rite Market for sponsoring this post!
I'm a total sucker for specialty grocery stores, and I've been a fan of San Francisco's legendary Bi-Rite market since I moved here in 2004. At the original location on 18th street, Bi-Rite packs an enormous selection of goodies into their tiny 2,000-square-foot space: uncommon seasonal produce, local cheeses, exquisite chocolates, and sweet treats from their creamery across the street. I always find new-to-me local, artisanal, organic treats to try, making it well worth the effort of navigating narrow aisles and joining my fellow SF foodies in line.
While Bi-Rite is a destination spot, it's also a true neighborhood establishment where you can pick up essentials for a dinner party or your next baking project. In fact, much of the obscure produce featured in Alternative Baker came from Bi-Rite – quince, bergamots, rhubarb, figs, heirloom apples, tiny ripe strawberries, and the sweetest pomegranates. There you get the variety and quality of a farmer's market and the convenience of an old-school grocer. There's an excellent selection of flours, sweeteners, spices, dairy, as well as fun products like chestnut puree for making this cake or the addictive chocolate bark that inspired this recipe.
Gluten Free Cocoa Almond Crust
This gluten free pear custard tart starts with Bi-Rite almonds ground powder-fine and mixed with gluten free flour, cocoa powder, butter, and sugar to form a press-in crust that tastes like your favorite childhood sandwich cookies. A food processor makes quick work of grinding the almonds, then incorporating the butter until the dough clumps together like damp soil. Just press the crumbs into a lightly oiled pan, freeze, then bake – no rolling or pie weights needed.
The base recipe for this almond cocoa crust comes from my book Alternative Baker. It's a versatile recipe that I've used for cheesecakes and pudding pies as well as the chocolate pecan cranberry tart from Alternative Baker – a reader favorite around the holidays! Here I trade blanched almonds for the almond flour I usually use and subbed in Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 gluten free AP flour in place of sweet rice flour. You can of course grab all of these ingredients at Bi-Rite!
Mulled Wine Poached Pears
The par-baked cocoa almond crust gets filled with a simple custard flavored with crème fraîche and vanilla. Into the crust go pears poached in Bi-Rite's Côtes du Rhône flavored with mulling spices and orange peel.
I had my pick of 6 (!) different pear varieties including Bosc, Bartlett, Seckle, and some beautiful red pears, all from local farms. Poaching the pears in red wine turns them a brilliant burgundy and infuses them with holiday cheer. Thinly sliced and nestled in creme fraiche custard and a cocoa almond crust, they bake into succulent slivers of spiced pear love.
Gluten Free Pear Custard Tart For Everyone
A bite of crumbly, deeply chocolate crust gives way to cool custard and warmly spiced fruit. Sweetness is offset by bitter cocoa, earthy wine, and bright spices. This tart is a boon for dinner parties and potlucks since it can be made earlier in the day, and each component can be made a day or two in advance to ease day-of prep.
Simmer the pear poaching liquid down to a thickened sauce and it's just the thing for drizzling over slices of tart, pouring over ice cream, or shaking into a bourbon cocktail (see the bonus recipe, below!)
If you're in SF, I highly recommend heading to Bi-Rite for all your holiday baking needs. From exceptional farm-direct produce to locally produced chocolate, the best ingredients make the most delicious baked goods.
Looking for more tarts? Check out
- 16 holiday-ready gluten free pies, tarts and galettes!
- Apple Quince Tart with Gluten-Free Buckwheat Crust
- Almond Plum Tart with Cardamom Ice Cream
- Fresh Fig Custard Tart with Fig Leaf Ice Cream
*Bojon appétit! For more Bojon Gourmet in your life, follow along on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest, purchase my gluten-free cookbook Alternative Baker, or subscribe to receive new posts via email. And if you make this Gluten-Free Pear Custard Tart + Mulled Wine Poached Pears, I’d love to see. Tag your Instagram snaps @The_Bojon_Gourmet and #bojongourmet.*
Mulled Wine Poached Pears
Print Recipe Pin RecipeIngredients
- 3 cups (710 ml) Bi-Rite Cotes du Rhone or other dry red wine
- 2 cups (475 ml) water
- ¾ cup (150 g) organic granulated cane sugar
- 1 whole vanilla pod
- A few strips orange or tangerine zest
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 whole cloves
- 2 whole allspice berries
- 4 medium, firm-ripe pears (such as Bartlett or Bosc), peeled, halved, cored
Instructions
- Put the wine, water, sugar, vanilla, orange zest, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice in a dutch oven or saute pan with high sides. Bring to a boil. Add the pears and simmer until just tender but still holding a shape, 10-20 minutes (longer if pairs are not very ripe), turning the pears over halfway through. Remove from the heat and let sit until ready to use, or cover and chill for up to several days. The pears will continue to pick up color and flavor from the wine.
- Remove the pears to a plate and strain the poaching liquid to remove and discard the spices. Simmer the poaching liquid until thick and syrupy, 15-25 minutes. You should have about 1 cup of liquid. When ready to bake, remove the stems and blossoms from the pears and slice lengthwise ¼ - 1/8 – inch thick, keeping the slices together.
Notes
Nutrition
Gluten-Free Pear Custard Tart
Print Recipe / Pin RecipeIngredients
Crust:
- 1 ⁄2 cup (80 g) Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 flour or sweet white rice flour
- 1 ⁄2 cup (55 g) Bi-Rite blanched sliced almonds or almond flour
- 1 ⁄2 cup (45 g) cocoa powder (preferably dutch-process)
- 2 tablespoons (12 g) tapioca flour
- 1 ⁄4 cup (50 g) organic granulated cane sugar
- 1 ⁄4 plus 1⁄8 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 5 tablespoons (70 g) cold, unsalted butter, diced into 1⁄2” cubes
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Cooking spray or extra butter, for the pan
Filling:
- 1/4 cup (50 g) organic granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons (30 g) Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 flour or sweet white rice flour
- Pinch fine sea salt
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup (120 ml) heavy cream
- ¼ cup (60 ml) crème fraiche
- Poached pears, from above
- 1 tablespoon organic granulated sugar, for sprinkling
- Lightly sweetened whipped cream or a mix of cream and crème fraiche, for serving (optional)
Instructions
Make the crust:
- Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350ºF.
- In the bowl of a food processor, combine the almonds, GF all-purpose flour or sweet rice flour, and cocoa powder with the tapioca starch, sugar and salt. Process until the almonds are finely ground. Scatter the butter pieces over the top and drizzle with the vanilla extract. Process until the dough starts to clump together.
- Dump about half of the crumbs into a lightly sprayed or buttered 9-inch loose-bottom tart pan and press the dough evenly into the sides of the pan. Add the remaining crumbs and press them into the bottom, keeping the edges square. (It usually takes me about 10 minutes to make it look pretty.) Freeze until firm, 15–30 minutes, or wrap and freeze for up to 1 month.
- Place the tart pan on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until slightly puffed and firm to the touch, 20-25 minutes. Remove the crust from the oven and, while it’s still hot, press the sides and bottom firmly with the back of a spoon; this will help it hold together when cool. Keep warm.
Make the filling:
- In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, and salt. Whisk in the egg, then the cream and crème fraiche until smooth. Pour the custard into the bottom of the baked tart shell. Gently fan the sliced pears out over the top of the custard. Sprinkle the 1 tablespoon sugar over the pears.
- Bake the tart until the custard is puffed and set, 30-40 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool until warm. Release the sides of the pan and let the tart cool completely. Cut into wedges and serve at room temperature, or chill. Serve the tart drizzled with the reduced poaching liquid.
Mulled Wine Whiskey Sour
Print Recipe Pin RecipeIngredients
- 2 ounces bourbon or whiskey
- 1 ounce reduced poaching liquid, from above
- 1 ounce strained lemon juice
- Ice
- Fizzy water, optional
Instructions
- Combine all in cocktail shaker and shake or stir for 20 seconds. Strain into a rocks glass filled with ice. Top with fizzy water if desired.
Emily says
I am just curious about the texture of the crust. Is it more of a crumbly granular texture or does it have a more structured texture? How does it hold together with the very wet filling ingredients? Thank you! It looks absolutely AMAZING! I'm having a hard time choosing between your desserts for a holiday dinner treat!
Alanna says
Great question. The texture is like a chocolate shortbread cookie. It holds together well, and stands up to the wet ingredients for a good 2 days, and it has a meltingly tender texture when you bit into it. With the buttery texture, deep chocolate taste, and hit of salt, people go kinda crazy when they taste it for the first time. :) I hope that helps! Please let me know what you end up trying or if you want any advice to help narrow things down!
Suzanne says
This gave me goosebumps, honestly. I can't believe how easy it apPEARs to be! *wink* get it?
Thank you for sharing. This would be a spectacular holiday treat.
Alanna says
Haha, the way to my heart is through silly puns, how did you know?! ;) Thanks so much for the sweet words!
Jonathan says
Hi - is there a way to turn a tart recipe to work for a pie pan? I don't have a tart pan. btw - your Alternative Baker book is top-notch :)
Alanna says
Great questions! You can absolutely make this in a 9-inch pie pan. It might be a tad more challenging to remove from the pan but it should work as written, no changes needed. I've made this crust in a pie pan for this recipe and it works great!
Sara says
I love the look of this recipe, but I'm a teetotaler and I was wondering if there was a way to make this without using any alcohol. I know that the alcohol content cooks out, but I can't even stand the taste of wines or beers cooked into food. I'm not a fan of the flavor it gives, so I always try to find alternatives. Any suggestions?
Alanna says
Absolutely! You could try apple cider, pomegranate juice, or cranberry juice in place of the wine. :)
Sara says
Does that work for all recipes that have alcohol? Even ones where you cook with alcohol? Or is that just for baking? Plus, would that also be the alternatives for this recipe only? You have a few other recipes I'd like to try but they also include a type of alcohol in them. Like your pie recipes with walnuts and pecans that use Bourbon or Nocino? Either way, I was wondering what you would replace for something like that. Or if there even is a guide about how to replace alcohol that you would use to help you figure out which liquid works best with specific flavors or different textures, etc.
Any thoughts?
Alanna says
Hm, there are probably guides online (let me know if you find a good one!), but in general you can just replace the alcoholic liquid with another liquid that you like the taste of, or sometimes you can just leave it out entirely. For those nut pies, you could just omit the booze, or coffee could be a nice flavor to add in there if you like coffee. Feel free to experiment, most recipes are pretty forgiving!
Missy says
Most fruit juices can be a substitute for wine no problem! For the booze you can use "flavor extracts" instead like buttered rum flavor! Lorranne makes hundreds of flavors! For whiskey or bourbon I tend to use a dark flavored coffee instead. For example to replace Captain morgans spiced rum I'll use dark spiced/cinnamon coffee (cooled off) This question is old but I posted in case anyone is looking for ideas
Alanna says
Oh I love these ideas! Thank you so much for sharing!
Victoria says
¡Que receta tan atractiva! Me ha costado entenderla porque mi ordenador no hace una buena traducción. Pero seguro que la hago en estas fiestas. Me ha gustado mucho las indicaciones que das para poder ir haciendo con días de antelación. Ya te cuento que tal me sale. Un saludo desde las Islas Canarias.
Sabrina says
I have to check out Bi-Rite, wow, gorgeous pears after their wine soaking, love the crust too, thank you for this beautiful tart
Alanna says
Such a great market, you'll love it! Thanks for reading and for the kind words.
Missy says
Delicious!!! I had a bunch of pluots far from being ripe so I used those instead of pears! Sliced first and mulled about 10 minutes! Normally in this type of dessert you wouldn't be able to taste the fruit as much but not so with this! The custard is so mild it let's the fruit shine! Reduced sauce A+ I only had Raspberry wine used that! I did not make your crust as I'm not gluten free I made another that was 70/30 whole wheat and almond but I will try yours next time! Custard Tart +sauce + sweetened creme fraiche = heaven! TY!!
I happened to have a high quality cream and homemade creme fraiche...if you have the time I highly recommend making your own!
Alanna says
This variation sounds delicious! Thank you so much for sharing!
Reema Lad says
I made this for Chrismas Day dessert, and it was so delicious! My family absolutely LOVED it. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Alanna says
Aw I'm so glad it was a hit! What a special dessert to share with your family. Thanks for the note and rating!
Aashna says
This tart was a huge hit at our New Years Eve party! I used mulled cranberry juice instead of mulled wine, and I used normal flour with almond flour as I'm not gluten-free. I also added a teaspoon of vanilla bean paste to the custard because my family has more of a sweet tooth. With the modifications I was nervous it wouldn't turn out well, but it was great! Thanks for sharing such an awesome recipe :)
Alanna says
Those modifications sound divine – I'm so glad they worked well and that the tart was a hit!