Last winter I invited my cousin and her fiancé over for dinner and I made these individual tarts for dessert.  They were a huge hit, so I decided to make them again this year.  They remind me of French pear and frangipani tarts.

With pears in season and nuts playing a staring role in winter foods, this recipe is perfect for holiday entertaining.  Making spun sugar for a garnish is fun as long as you don’t burn yourself.  I recommend using a nonstick silicon mat from a kitchen supply store.  I think the mats are worth the investment because I have used parchment paper with unsatisfactory results in the past.  This recipe dose not hold well and is best made a couple of hours before serving at room temperature.

Serves 6 Individual Tarts

Crust

1/2 cup unsalted butter chilled and cut into cubes

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 1/4 cup flour

1/8 tsp salt

Filling

1 large Bosc pear peeled and thinly sliced

3/4 cup sugar

2 large eggs

30 g dark or semi sweet bar broken into small pieces

30 g chopped hazel nuts

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

pinch of ground cinnamon

Garnish spun sugar shapes

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup water

1/8 tsp cream of tartar

Method

Put all crust ingredients in a food processor or a large bowl.  Pulse processor or use two forks to cut butter into flour until consistency of fine bread crumbs.  Press into the bottoms of 4 inch tart molds making an edge about 1/2 inch high.  Bake at 350° for 15 minutes or until slightly golden.

In electric mixer or hand held mixer beat the sugar, eggs vanilla and cinnamon until smooth.

Divide chocolate pieces and chopped nuts evenly into the bottoms of all six tarts.  Next add sliced pears you can make a pattern of your choice.  Ladle egg and sugar mixture over tops of tarts taking care not to over fill.

Bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until tarts are golden brown and set in middle.  Serve with spun sugar or simply opt for vanilla ice cream.

To make the spun sugar shapes heat sugar, water and cream of tartar in a skillet over medium heat.  Stir slightly until sugar is dissolved.  Bring to boil over medium heat for about 15 minutes or until sugar begins to caramelized.  Use a metal spoon to scoop up some of the caramelized sugar.  Hold spoon about three feet in the air and jiggle your hand back and forward making amoeba like patterns on the silicon mat.  Let cool then peel off and garnish your tarts.

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This recipe is from Sue Lawrence’s Scottish Kitchen.  I adore her cook book and have made many of the recipes inside its binding.  These brownies have a lovely sophisticated chocolate quality along with the zing of fresh raspberries.  I was living in Scotland when I first experienced these brownies and had the opportunity to enjoy them with Scottish grown rapberries, which are some of the best in the world.  However, with that being said the raspberries grown in California taste yummy too.  Where ever your raspberries are grown, I do recommend using only fresh raspberries because frozen or canned make the brownies far too gooey.  I have on occasion added 1 tsp of ground cinnamon to the chocolate mixture.  I am a complete cinnamon junky and realize that not everyone shares in my passionate obsession, so feel free to leave it out.

Serves 9 4 1/2 oz. brownies

Ingredients

12 oz. dark chocolate

9 oz. unsalted butter

3 large eggs

9 oz. dark brown sugar

3 1/2 oz. all purpose flour, sifted

1 tsp baking powder

6 oz. fresh raspberries

pinch of salt

Method

Preheat oven to 325° and line a 9×9 inch baking pan.

Melt chocolate and butter together in double boiler or heat proof pot of simmering water.  Set aside to cool.

Wisk eggs until thick, gradually add the sugar and beat until glossy.  Beat in the melted chocolate mixture, then gently fold in flour, baking powder and salt.

Pour just over half the mixture into the prepared pan.  Scatter with fresh raspberries, then cover with the remaining mixture.

Bake in the preheated oven for aobout 40 minutes or utnil the surface is set.  They will be cooked when a skewer or tooth pick inserted into the middle comes out with just a little mixture adhering.

Remove the brownies from the oven and allow to rest for about 20 minutes.  Cut into squares and remove them from the tin when cooled.  It is seriously tempting to remove them when they are still warm but they are far too fragile to decant unless cold.

I suggest serving them with more fresh raspberries and a dollop of vanilla ice cream.

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