Walnut Cranberry Pear Tart

I usually make at least 3 or 4 desserts for Thanksgiving, but this year it'll just be the 4 of us and Whirling Dervish is watching his caloric intake because of wrestling.  So the pumpkin swirl cheesecake I showed off here will not be making an appearance at our Thanksgiving table.  I've only made one dessert for Thanksgiving this year.  This Walnut Cranberry Pear Tart.

The base of this tart is a butter pastry.  I started by placing 1/2 cup of brown rice flour, 1/2 cup of tapioca flour, 1/4 cup coconut flour, 1/4 cup ground walnuts, 3 tbsps sugar, and 1/8 tsp xantham gum in the bowl of my food processor and giving it a whirl.

Add 1 stick of chilled butter cut into chunks and pulse until incorporated.

Mix in 3 egg yolks and sprinkle in 1-2 tbsps water.  The mixture will be crumbly not dough like.  Press into tart pan and chill for an hour.

After the pastry dough has chilled, place in an oven preheated to 300 and bake for 35-40 minutes.  When the crust is golden, pull it out of the oven and let it cool for 15 minutes before turning it out of the pan.

In the meantime place 2/3 cup cranberries, 1/4cup agave nectar, 1 tbsp butter, and 2 tbsps Grand Marnier(or GranGala or whatever orange flavored liqueur you have on hand) in a pan over medium low heat.  Peel, core, and slice 2 pears.  Toss them into the pan, too.

When the fruit has released it's juices, start pulling the pears out to arrange on the tart crust.  Let the sauce get syrupy and pour over the pears.  Sprinkle on some chopped toasted walnuts.

Thanks for popping in and check out the other great recipes over at GlutenFree Homemaker's Gluten Free Wednesdays, Lisa's Gluten Free's Health Food Carnival, Remodelaholic's Recipe Link Up Party, and Funky Junk Interiors's Saturday Night Special.