Pear and coconut muffins
Preparation: 5 minutes
Cooking: 25 minutes
Makes: 12 muffins
ingredients
½ cup coconut flour
½ cup of gluten-free flour
1 cup almond meal
½ cup coconut sugar
1 teaspoon of baking powder
½ teaspoon bi-carb soda
¼ vegetable oil
1/3 cup almond milk
1/3 cup of sparkling apple juice
2 eggs
2 tablespoons of maple syrup plus 1 extra for serving
1 medium-sized pear, finely diced
method
- Preheat the oven to 180° C.Grease a 12-hole muffin pan
- Mix the flour, almond flour, coconut sugar, baking powder and bi-carb in a medium-sized bowl
- In a medium-sized jug, whisk the eggs and all the other ingredients except the pear
- Pour into the flour mixture and stir
- Stir in the pear and distribute evenly on the prepared muffin tins
- Bake for 30 minutes, if browning too quickly, cover with foil for 20 minutes
- Brush with reserved maple syrup while warm
Courtesy Australian Pears
Dark chocolate mouse with Marsala pears
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Servings: 1 serving
ingredients
Instead of berries, try this pearl with your chocolate mousse – pears and chocolate are a heavenly game!
To check if a pear is firm, test the neck of the pear by gently squeezing the pulp near the stem.
3 firm pears
125 ml whole milk
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon of sugar
2 tbsp Nutella
240 g dark chocolate, cut into small pieces
600 ml of pouring cream, whipped
250 ml Marsala or port wine
100 ml honey
1 cinnamon stick
1 vanilla pod, divided lengthways
Zest of 1 lemon
4 bay leaves
Handful of hazelnuts
cream
method
- To make the chocolate mousse, put milk and Nutella in a saucepan over medium heat and let them rise just before boiling point. In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks, sugar, and a pinch of salt until well mixed, then transfer the chocolate to another separate bowl.
- When the milk is ready, gradually stir in? add the egg mixture until everything is combined, and then return the mixture to the saucepan over low medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and covers the back of a spoon. Remove the pudding from the stove and set aside. Stir to combine and pour over chocolate. Let the pudding melt in the chocolate for 2 minutes without interference. Stir the mixture until smooth (if the chocolate is not completely melted, just put the entire mixture back on the stove over low heat and gently stir and melt through).
- Let the mixture cool down a bit. Fold in the whipped cream, pour into individual serving glasses and leave to rest in the refrigerator for 4 hours or overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Put the pears in a roaster, nice and cozy. Add the marsala, honey, cinnamon, vanilla, lemon peel and bay leaves. Cover with foil and fry for 20 minutes. Cover the foil and cook for another 20 minutes. The pears should be soft and wrinkled. When the pears are cool enough, cut them into quarters and remove the seeds and core.
- To serve, put a pinch of crème fraiche in the mousse glass, drizzle a piece of Marsala pear with Marsala cooking syrup and sprinkle with hazelnuts.
Courtesy Australian Pears
Ricotta cheesecake with pears and ginger
Preparation: 30 minutes
Cook: 1 hour
Makes: 10 servings
ingredients
200 digestive biscuits
75 g unsalted butter, melted
750 g fresh ricotta
½ cup of castor sugar
1 teaspoon ginger powder
4 medium-sized eggs, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons Packham pears, peeled, pitted and cut into small cubes
crystallized ginger (optional)
Caramel poached pears
5 Packham pears, peeled, halved or quartered and cores removed
4 cups of water
¾ cup of brown sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
½ cup of heavy cream
40 g of salted butter
method
- Preheat the oven to 170 ° C (150 ° C for fan ovens). Grease the bottom and sides of an 8-inch springform pan. Process the cookies in a food processor until they form a fine crumb. Add the melted butter and mix. Pour the mixture on the bottom of the pan and press with your fingers to form an even crust. Keep in the refrigerator until use.
- Beat the ricotta, sugar and ginger powder until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time and keep beating until completely mixed. Fold in the chopped pears.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and flatten the lid.
- In the oven for about 50-60 minutes.
- While the cheesecake is baking, poach the pears. In a large saucepan, combine the water and sugar over medium-high heat. Add the lemon juice. Once the sugar has dissolved, reduce the heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Dip the pears in the boiling liquid, adding more water if necessary to cover the pears. Cut a piece of parchment paper into a circle large enough to cover the pot. Let the paper fall into the pot until it touches the surface of the liquid. Let the pears simmer until there is little resistance to a knife inserted directly into a pear (approx. 30 minutes). Take the pan off the stove and cool the pears completely in the poaching liquid.
- So that the caramel sauce drizzles over the pears, reduce the poaching liquid to about half a cup. Add the cream and butter and simmer until the mixture is thick and shiny.
- When the cheesecake is baked and a crust has formed all over the cheesecake (the top turns light golden brown) and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, turn off the oven, leave the door ajar, and allow the cheesecake to cool completely before proceeding You let him go of the pages. Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve. The cheesecake can be chilled and covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
- To serve, top with caramel-poached pears and crystallized ginger (optional).
Makes an 8-inch round cheesecake for 8-10 people
Recipe and photography by Sugar et Al
Courtesy Australian Pears
Dr. Joanna McMillan’s Pear & Polenta Upside Down Cake
Preparation time: 1 hour 45 minutes
Served: 12
- vegetarian
- Non dairy
- Nut free
ingredients
4 pears, pitted and sliced (skin on) PLUS 2 very ripe pears
150ml verjuice
4 large eggs
1 cup panela (or you could use brown sugar or coconut sugar)
300 g whole wheat spelled flour (white flour admittedly gives you a lighter cake)
3 teaspoons of baking powder
140 g polenta
1 cup of extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup cocoa nibs
method
- Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees celcius. Brush a 22 cm long cake pan with a feather base with extra virgin olive oil. If you don’t have a non-stick line with parchment paper.
- Sprinkle the bottom of the can with panela. Then layer the cut pears in the can in a circular pattern.
- Beat the eggs with the panel for 2-3 minutes. In the meantime, puree the 2 ripe pears with the verjuice. Add this to the egg mixture along with the extra virgin olive oil. Add the flour, baking powder, polenta, and cocoa nibs while the bat moves slowly. Beat gently until everything is well mixed.
- Pour the mixture over the pears in the can and bake for 30 minutes. Cover with foil so the top doesn’t burn and bake for another 30-40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Take out of the oven and let rest in the can for the last 30 minutes.
- Remove the can and leave the bottom in place. Turn the cake onto your serving plate so that the sliced caramelized pears are on top. The cake is still warm and is best served immediately with a dash of Greek yogurt or pudding. It is also served well at room temperature and will last for several days in an airtight container.
Courtesy Australian Pears
Sticky pear pudding
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Servings: 8 servings
ingredients
If you want to try a classic, swap dates for pears – they go wonderfully with the spices in the pudding.
Try this recipe with Packham or William pears – they’re great all-rounder pears that can be eaten fresh or used in cooking.
Pear and ginger cake
3 pears, grated with a box grater or mandolin
165 g of powdered sugar
125 g unsalted butter, diced, soft
2 eggs
60 g of golden syrup
150 grams of flour
1 tbsp ground ginger
2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
¾ teaspoon bicarb soda
pinch of salt
Caramel sauce
150 g unsalted butter, softened
300 g dark muscovado sugar
1 tbsp golden syrup
200 ml double cream
method
- For the pear and ginger cake, spray an 8-cup mini loaf cake tin lightly with rapeseed spray and set aside.
- Put the sugar and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment and stir gently and loosely.
- Add the eggs one at a time and beat them well after each addition. Add the golden syrup and mix to combine. Remove the bowl from the blender and sift in the flour, spices, and bicarb soda. Fold carefully.
- Add the pear, a pinch of salt and 160 ml of hot water and fold in until just combined. Pour into prepared cans and bake for about 20 minutes until everything is cooked through.
- To make the sauce, melt butter, muscovado sugar, and golden syrup in a heavy saucepan over very low heat. Once the butter is melted, stir gently until everything else is melted too. Now stir in the cream, turn up the heat and take it off the heat when it is bubbly and hot.
- Remove from the oven and place the cans on a rack for 5 minutes. Turn cake over on wire rack. Pour the hot caramel on top of the hot cakes, this will help the sauce soak.
Note: If you don’t have a mini lunch box, you can use a muffin pan too
Courtesy Australian Pears
