Pear and Chocolate Tart

• 4 cups water, approximately
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 4 ripe pears
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate
• 3 tablespoons soft unsalted butter
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup ground hazelnuts or almonds
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 9-inch tart shell, baked
• 1 cup heavy cream, whipped

1. Place the water and lemon juice in a saucepan.
2. Peel the pears, cut them in half and core them.
3. As each is peeled and cored, place it in the saucepan, just covered with water.
4. Add one-half cup of the sugar, bring to a simmer and cook gently about 10 minutes, until the pears are just tender.
5. Drain the pears and place them on several thicknesses of paper towel to continue draining.
6. Melt the chocolate over hot water or in a microwave oven.
7. Beat in the butter a tablespoon at a time, then beat in the eggs.
8. Mix one-third cup of the hazelnuts or almonds with the flour and the remaining sugar and stir into the chocolate mixture.
9. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
10. Sprinkle the remaining hazelnuts or almonds over the bottom of the baked tart shell.
11. Cut each pear half into four thick slices and arrange the slices close together in the tart shell.
12. Spread the chocolate mixture over the pears.
13. Bake 30 minutes.
14. Serve warm or cooled to room temperature with whipped cream on the side.

water, lemon, pears, sugar, bittersweet chocolate, butter, eggs, ground hazelnuts, flour, tart shell, heavy cream

Taken from cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1134 (may not work)