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Ricotta maple tart with roast pears

Maple sugar adds the beautiful flavours of maple syrup to baking without the liquid content, making it ideal to use in pastry, like we have here. We've doubled the hit by roasting the pears in it too. From: gourmettraveller.com.au

650 gm firm ricotta
120 gm maple sugar or raw caster sugar, plus extra topping
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
Finely grated rind of 1 orange
1 lemon
2 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp finely grated nutmeg
3 egg yolks
25 gm fine fresh white breadcrumbs
Maple sugar crust
150 gm (1 cup) plain flour
75 gm maple sugar
35 gm cornflour
¾ tsp baking powder
125 gm chilled unsalted butter, diced
1 egg, lightly whisked
Maple roast pears
200 gm maple sugar
4 ripe beurre bosc or Josephine pears, peeled, halved and cored
Thinly peeled rind of 1 orange
Juice of ½ orange and ½ lemon
125 ml (½ cup) maple syrup
3 cinnamon quills

Preheat oven to 180C. For maple sugar crust, combine dry ingredients in a bowl with a pinch of salt, add butter and rub in with your fingertips until fine crumbs form. Add egg, mix in with a knife (to avoid overworking the gluten), form into a disc and refrigerate to rest (30 minutes).

Process ricotta, sugar, vanilla, rinds, spices and egg yolks in a food processor, add breadcrumbs, process to combine and set aside.

Roll out pastry on a lightly floured surface to a 3mm-thick round and line the base and sides of a 24cm-diameter loose-bottomed tart tin, letting edges of pastry overhang the sides. Spoon in ricotta mixture, smooth top, fold in pastry edges, brush with eggwash, scatter with extra maple sugar and bake until golden and set (20-25 minutes), then in tin cool to room temperature.

For maple roast pears, increase oven to 220C. Spread sugar evenly in a roasting pan, press cut sides of pears into sugar and stand for 5 minutes, then turn over. Scatter orange rind in the pan, then drizzle orange and lemon juices around pears. Pour maple syrup over pears, scatter in cinnamon quills, then pour 60ml water around pears (not over the top) and roast, basting pears with pan juices occasionally and turning occasionally until caramelised and just tender (30-35 minutes). Serve warm on tart. Best eaten on day of making.