Fruit tarts in Morocco tend to be made the French way – with sweetened pastry, vanilla-flavored pastry cream and a beautiful arrangement of glazed fruit. You can buy them in a patisserie, of course, but they're not that hard to make at home.

Prep time below does not include making the tart shell and pastry cream, which may be done a day or two ahead of assembling the pie.

Allow additional time for cooling or chilling the baked tart before serving.

See Also

French Strawberry Tart with Pastry Cream - Tarte Aux Fraises

French Peach Tart Recipe with Pastry Cream

French Apple Tart with Pastry Cream - Tarte Aux Pommes

Ingredients

• 1 unbaked sweet pastry shell, chilled (Pate Sucree recipe)
• 1 1/4 cups vanilla pastry cream (1/2 of Creme Patissiere recipe)
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• 7 or 8 pears, nearly ripe but still firm
• 1/4 cup sugar, or to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
• 1 tablespoon butter
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• 1/4 cup apricot jam
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice or water

• Prep Time: 30 minutes
• Cook Time: 50 minutes

• Total Time: 80 minutes
• Yield: one 9" or 10" tart

Preparation

Preheat your oven to 400° F (200° C).

Evenly distribute the pastry cream across the bottom of the chilled, unbaked sweet pastry shell.

Core and thinly slice the pears. (There's no need to peel them unless you want to.) In a large bowl, gently toss the pears with the sugar and cinnamon. Carefully arrange the pears in an overlapping pattern on the bed of pastry cream, then dot the pears with bits of the tablespoon of butter.

Take narrow strips of aluminum foil and wrap them over the edge of tart pan to prevent the edges of the crust from darkening too much. Bake the tart in the preheated oven for about 40 minutes; then remove the foil and continue baking until the fruit and crust are nicely colored. Remove the tart from the oven and place on a rack to cool. 

While the tart is still warm, place the apricot jam and lemon juice in a small saucepan or skillet and heat to a simmer. Stir to combine, then use a pastry brush to lightly glaze the top of the fruit with the mixture.

Leave the tart to cool completely, then refrigerate for up to several days. The tart may be served chilled or at room temperature.