Baked Pears with Dried Fruit

Tags

Classic, Dessert, Easy, fast and easy recipes, French, Fruit, Gluten Free, Mediterranean, Pears, Simple, Tasty Treat, Valentines Day

Inspired from the French Mediterranean area, this delicious desert is a very quick and easy to make while leaving the impression that you are a gourmet chef. It is possible to use any dried fruits or nuts available. Personally, I like to use dried cranberries and blueberries with a touch of honey inside. The creative possibilities are endless. As always, try it once and then make your own substitutions to create your own perfect pear.

Serves 4
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Preheat oven to 160 C (320 F)

Ingredients

4 Williams pears
30 g (1/4 c) Toasted almonds
30 g (1/4 c) Toasted filberts
2 dried figs
2 dried prunes
2 dried apricots
10 g (1/8 stick) butter
50 g (3 tblsp) raw cane sugar
50 g (3 tblsp) lavender honey, runny

Almond Cream
60 g (1/2 stick) butter, softened
60 g (1/2 c) confectioner’s sugar
60 g (1/2 c) ground almonds
20 g (1/8 c) all-purpose flour
1 egg
2 drops almond extract

Garnish
A few sprigs of mint

Directions

Peal the pears without removing the stalk
Using a melon baller, scoop out the core of the pear by going through the root
Wrap pears in plastic wrap to retain colour and freshness
Make the Almond cream by beating together the softened butter, confectioner’s sugar, ground almonds, flour and egg; add a couple drops of almond extract and mix well.
Chop the almonds, filberts, dried figs, prunes and dried apricots
In a bowl, throughly mix the dried fruit and almond cream
Using a small spoon, fill the pear with fruit and almond cream mixture
Melt the butter
Brush pears with melted butter and sprinkling them with raw cane sugar
Bake pears for 15 minutes then brown them under the broiler
drizzle honey all over plate
Place pear in the middle of the plate and garnish with a sprig of mint