Ginger Pear Tart w/ homemade GF puff pastry crust!

Once I figured out I could make gluten-free puff-pastry, I simply had to do something with all the lovely fresh pears available this time of year.  This is a great treat because there is very little sugar added - the rich flavor is from the pears themselves, and fresh grated ginger.  They're such a perfect combination.  I based my recipe off this one, but I use vanilla bean paste to add extra oomph.  If you don't have the bean paste, you can scrap in a bit of vanilla seeds from a fresh pod and use vanilla extract.  The bean paste really adds something extra to the pear & ginger flavors.  Enjoy! 

Fresh out of the oven. Yum!

Sliced into pieces, ready to enjoy. Look at that lovely flakiness!

Ginger Pear Tart w/ homemade GF puff pastry crust!
Makes 1 large tart (can easily be doubled or tripled using the puff pastry crust recipe)

Make 1 batch of homemade GF puff pastry dough.   Follow the instructions on creating danishes or tarts from letter 4.  You can make this tart any size or shape you want, but avoid having it much bigger than 12x12 (primarily b/c I think the edges are the loveliest part of the puff pastry).

Preheat oven to 400F.

Cut off a 2-4" piece from your puff pastry dough.  Roll out your piece into a rectangle (or square) that is ~1/4" thick between two pieces of plastic wrap. (Mine went from 1" to 1/4" thick from the envelope-sized rectangle I had).  Flip your dough from the plastic wrap onto parchment paper-lined cookie sheet.  Fold in the sides of the dough to create an edge using the parchment paper to help lift the edges.

Rolled out dough.  Dough flipped onto parchment paper, with edges folded up.

Peel and thinly slice:
2 ripe pears (not overripe - make sure they're still firm)

Mix together ginger glaze:
2 Tbsp melted butter
1 tsp fresh grated ginger
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Brush the dough gently with the ginger glaze.
Layer the pears overlapping (as shown) onto puff pastry.

Brush the remaining glaze over the top of the pears.

Bake at 400F ~12-15 minutes, until nicely browned.

Remove from oven.  Let cool slightly, then slice and serve.  This is great warm or cool. Enjoy!

Mmmm... delicious!