Spiced poached pear with almond crumble and cinnamon cream
Can’t decide between poached pear or crumble? Have both. Served with a delightful cinnamon cream and chocolate sauce.
Ingredients
For the pears
- 200g/7oz sugar
- 100ml/3½fl oz dry white wine
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 4 large pears, peeled
- 16 cloves
- 1 lemon, juice and zest
For the crumble
- 50²µ/1¾´Ç³ú butter, chilled
- 50²µ/1¾´Ç³ú plain flour
- 60²µ/2¼´Ç³ú caster sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- 4 tbsp flaked almonds
For the cream
- 100ml/3½fl oz double cream
- 50ml/2fl oz mascarpone
- 4 tbsp icing sugar
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 lemon, zest and dash of the juice
For the chocolate sauce
To serve
- 3 tbsp dried cherries, roughly chopped
- 4 mint leaves, to decorate
Method
For the pears, put the sugar, white wine, cinnamon and 350ml/12fl oz water in a saucepan large enough to accommodate the pears. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to a gentle simmer. Ìý
In the meantime, stud each pear with 4 cloves, then carefully add them to the poaching liquid along with the lemon juice and zest. Simmer slowly for about 12–15 minutes, turning from time to time until the pears are just softened. Leave to cool completely before removing.
To prepare the crumble, preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4. Using your fingertips, rub the butter, flour, sugar, vanilla and ginger together in the bowl and then stir in the almonds.
Spread the crumble onto a baking tray and bake for about 12–15 minutes, turning twice during cooking. Once lightly browned, remove from the oven and leave to cool completely.
For the cream, whip the cream, mascarpone, icing sugar, cinnamon, lemon zest and juice together until firm. Set aside.
For the chocolate sauce, melt the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl placed over a saucepan of gently simmering water. Do not let the bowl touch the water – allow the chocolate to melt very gently. Remove from the heat and set aside.
To assemble, core each pear from the base and slice 2cm/¾in pieces from the top of each pear (keep the stalks intact). Place the pear bases on a serving platter. Dip the tops into the chocolate sauce and leave to set on baking paper.
Spoon or pipe the cream onto the top of pear bases and place the dipped pear stalk on top.
Drizzle chocolate sauce around each pear and sprinkle the crumble over.ÌýArrange dried cherries on top and place a mint leaf on each pear.