Fold-Over Pear Torte

Since all of the recipes in Baking by Dorie Greenspan have been YUMMY I was expecting just that from this recipe.  But this week's Tuesdays with Dorie pick turned out to be  EXTRAORDINARILY YUMMY!

I was rather casual about this recipe, only glancing through the ingredients to be sure I had them all on hand.  I assumed this torte would be best when warm so I planned to make it so that it would come out of the oven just after dinner.  I had read the recipe just enough to realize I needed to make the pie dough early in the day so it could chill.  When I started to bake in earnest at 4:30 pm, I discovered that the torte needed to cool completely to set.   So much for eating it right after dinner.

The next  surprise was the direction to generously butter an 8" spring form pan. Since there isn't a picture in the book, I had imagined I'd be putting the delicious pie dough on a baking sheet, piling on pears, and folding the edges hap-hazzardly over the top.  But an 8" spring form pan?  Suddenly I became more alert!

Once the dough is made and in the pan (mine came up over the edges), the pear filling is prepared. I worried about my pears because pear season is past and I could only get very, very firm Bosc pears at the farm market.  But I chopped them up, added the diced dried apricots and nuts, and poured the lovely custard filling over all.  The filling is mainly cream with some rum, eggs, sugar, vanilla and a little flour.

Next I had to deal with the top of the crust and Dorie says not to fold it over but rather to push it toward the center like a ruffle.  My edges were uneven and I could not bear to waste any of the lovely crust, so I ruffled as best I could and slid the torte into the oven.

Usually when Dorie advises that you take a peak and make sure something isn't browning too quickly, she is giving necessary advice.  My torte didn't brown quickly at all and in fact, it needed more than 70 minutes before I was satisfied with it.  And my "ruffle" sort of collapsed in on the top.

  Finally, it was cool enough, I released the torte from the pan and sprinkled on some powdered sugar.  All I can say is WOW!  This is fabulous!

This week's wonderful pick was made by Cakelaw and you can find the recipe at her blog.