Pear, Walnut and Goats Cheese Tart

Following on from my recent Goats Cheese and Caramelised Pizza recipe, I have whipped up another delicious recipe for all you goats cheese lovers to enter the Capricorn Somerset Goats Cheese challenge hosted by @EthelTheGoat. Included in the yummy hamper which I received was a bag of small sweets pears, which were perfect to compliment the creamy cheese taste. Never one to say no to a good tart, I used the puff pastry also provided to whip up an interesting sweet and savoury combo: Pear, Walnut and Goats Cheese Tarts with a honey glaze.Ingredients

500g puff pastry
1 pack of Capricorn goats cheese (thinly sliced)
1 or 2 pears (peeled, cored and thinly sliced)
2 tbsp of honey
25g butter
Handful of walnuts

Pre-heat the oven to 200C and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper. Roll the puff pastry out until it is about 1cm thick, then use a round pastry cutter to cut out the indivdual tarts. The number of tarts depends on the size of the cutter – mine was a medium one and produced around 12 tarts. Lay them out on the baking tray with space between them (you may need two baking trays).

Prepare the pears and goats cheese. Place a slice of goats cheese on each tart, followed by two slices of pear, leaving a border around the edge of each one. Use the tip of the knife to define the border around each tart and finish by placing 1 or 2 walnuts on the top of each tart.

Slowly melt together the honey and butter in a small saucepan, then brush the mixture over the tarts. Place in the oven and bake for around 10 – 12 minutes, or until the pastry is well risen and golden brown. Serve immediately, or place in the fridge once cool and re-heat in the oven for about 5 minutes before eating. They will keep for around 4 days in the fridge.

These are very tasty with a large glass of white wine, and are suitable as a starter of just an afternoon snack – enjoy