Scandinavian Pear Tart

Description

This luscious dessert combines the flavors of almond, cinnamon, cardamom, cream cheese, and pear to create a tart that will not soon be forgotten!

Ingredients

Crust

• cooking spray
• ½ cup white sugar
• 3 tablespoons butter, softened
• ¾ cup all-purpose flour
• ⅓ cup finely chopped almonds

Filling

• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• ¼ cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• ¾ teaspoon almond extract
• 1 (15 ounce) can pears, drained and thinly sliced

Topping

• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• ¾ teaspoon ground cardamom
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Coat a 9-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom with cooking spray.
2. Beat sugar and butter together in a small bowl until crumbly. Beat in flour and almonds. Press over the bottom and up the sides of the prepared tart pan.
3. Beat cream cheese in another small bowl until smooth. Beat in sugar, egg, and vanilla extract. Spread over the crust. Arrange pear slices over the cream cheese layer.
4. Combine sugar, cardamom, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Sprinkle over the pears.
5. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Continue baking until filling is set and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center reads 160 degrees F (71 degrees C), 15 to 20 minutes.
6. Cool tart on a wire rack for 1 hour. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before slicing.