Pear Pie With Cardamon Cream Food

PEAR & BERRY PIE

Steps:

• To make the poached pears, put the sugar in a big saucepan with the lemon peel, cardamom pods, nutmeg, cinnamon and 1 litre water. Bring to a gentle simmer. Lower the pear halves into the liquid and place a circle of baking parchment on top, so they cook through properly. Leave over a medium heat, so that a few bubbles break the surface every now and then, and cook for 15 mins. Allow to cool in the liquid. Can be chilled overnight if making ahead.
• Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Dust the work surface with a little plain flour. Roll out the pastry so it's big enough to line a 20-23cm frying pan, pie dish or shallow baking tin. Grate a little nutmeg over the surface, then gently roll again to help it stick. Lift over your dish, press into the corners, then trim the edges. You can give it a pretty crimped edge, if you like, then wrap the off-cuts in cling film and keep in the fridge until needed. Scrunch up a sheet of baking parchment, unfold, and lay it over the pastry. Fill with baking beans and bake for 15 mins. Remove the beans and parchment, brush with some of the beaten egg and return to the oven for another 5 mins.
• Meanwhile, make the filling. Cook the remaining pears and sugar in a small pan until the pears are soft enough to squash with the back of a spoon. Drain off 3 tbsp of the poaching liquid and mix this with the cornflour, then pour back into the pears and continue cooking and squashing for another minute or so, until the filling has thickened.
• Sprinkle the ground almonds over the pastry case, then add the squashed pear mixture and scatter over the berries. Remove the poached pears from their liquid and blot them on some kitchen paper. Arrange them face-up among the pear mixture and berries. Using a mini pastry cutter, cut little shapes from the leftover pastry, then arrange them on top. Brush the pastry pieces with beaten egg and sprinkle with the demerara sugar. Bake for 45-50 mins until the pastry is golden and berry juice is bubbling. Cool for 10-15 mins before serving with custard, cream or ice cream, if you like.

CREAMY PEAR PIE

Steps:

• In a large bowl, toss pears with sugar and flour. Combine sour cream and extracts; add to pear mixture until blended. Pour into pie shell. , In a small bowl, mix toppings ingredients until crumbly. Sprinkle over pears. Bake at 400° for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350°; bake 45 minutes more or until the pears are tender.

HAZELNUT, PEAR AND CARDAMOM TART

Steps:

• Prepare the Shortcut Pie Crust through Step 3.
• When ready to make the pie, heat the oven to 350 degrees. Roast the hazelnuts on a baking sheet until evenly browned and skins are loosened, 25 to 30 minutes. While they are still warm, rub them together in a dish towel to remove the skins. Cool the skinned hazelnuts, and then blitz them to a fine meal with the flour in the food processor. Transfer to a medium bowl and set aside.
• Crush the cardamom pods and retrieve the seeds, discarding the pods, then crush the seeds to a fine powder using a mortar and pestle.
• In a food processor, cream the butter, granulated sugar and crushed cardamom until pale and fluffy. With the machine running, add eggs one at a time, emulsifying each one fully before adding the next, and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Transfer to the bowl with the hazelnut meal and stir to combine. Chill until firm, about 1 hour.
• While the frangipane chills, shape and bake the crust: Working over an 11-inch fluted tart pan, prepare the Shortcut Pie Crust through Step 4, then chill, at least 30 minutes or up to 2 days. (This can be done ahead.)
• Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake the chilled crust until just-cooked but not browned, about 15 minutes. (The crust will continue to cook while the tart bakes, so expect it to darken in color when it bakes the second time.) Cool completely.
• Scoop the hazelnut frangipane into the crust. (Don't try to spread it; it will distribute itself evenly as it cooks.) Nestle the pears into the frangipane, tucking some underneath the frangipane and leaving others on top.
• Bake on a baking sheet until the frangipane is fully set in the center and the crust is golden brown, 75 to 90 minutes. Cool on a wire rack completely, then remove from the pan and serve with crème fraîche.

SUGARED CARDAMOM PEARS

Steps:

• In a skillet over medium-high heat, add the butter. As the butter melts and begins to foam, add the Bosc pears. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes until they begin to soften. Add the brown sugar and stir to incorporate the sugar mixture, evenly coating the pears. Stir in the salt, cardamom, and vanilla extract, and continue to stir until the liquid becomes syrupy. Transfer to a serving bowl and serve over vanilla ice cream garnished with crystallized ginger.

CARDAMOM PEARS OVER SPICED YOGURT

Steps:

• Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Halve and core the pears and place them cut-side down on paper towels until ready to use.
• Mix the brown sugar, ginger, cardamom, cloves and salt in a small bowl. Turn the pears cut-side up and sprinkle them each with a teaspoon of the mixture.
• Brush the grill pan with the coconut oil and place the pears cut-side down on the grates. Cook until grill marks appear, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the pears to a plate. Mix the remaining spice mix into the yogurt. To serve, add about 1/2 cup yogurt to a bowl or plate, then add 2 pears halves and sprinkle with a couple small mint leaves. Serve immediately.

PEAR FRANGIPANE TART

Steps:

• Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface until big enough to line an 18 x 28cm tart tin or a 23cm round tart tin. Carefully lift the pastry into the tin, leaving any extra hanging over the sides. Prick the base of the pastry with a fork, sit the tin on a baking sheet and chill for 30 mins.
• Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Line the pastry with baking parchment and fill with baking beans. Put in the oven and bake blind for 15 mins. Remove the beans and paper, and bake for a further 10 mins until the pastry is biscuity. Decrease the oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3, and trim the pastry edges.
• To make the cardamom frangipane, beat all the ingredients together with an electric whisk. Dollop into the tin and spread evenly to fill. Peel, halve and core the pears - scoop out the core with a melon baller, if you have one. Brush with a little lemon juice. Arrange the pears in the tin, pushing them a little into the frangipane. Scatter with a few more flaked almonds and bake for 50 mins until the filling is risen, golden and firm to the touch. Serve warm or cold, drizzled with a little honey.

PEAR-BLACKBERRY PIE WITH CARDAMOM

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375°.
• Core and slice the pears.
• In a large bowl, mix the pears and remaining filling ingredients together.
• Pour filling into prepared pie shell.
• Make the topping: add the sugar, flour, and cardamom to a food processor; pulse to combine.
• Add in the butter; mix until the topping comes together into crumbs.
• Add crumbs to the top of the pie, starting in the middle and spreading to 1 ½ inches from the edge.
• Bake 1 hour and 20 minutes (tent crust edges with foil if start to get too brown).
• Let the pie cool completely before serving.

SALTED CARAMEL PEAR PIE BARS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly spray a 9x13-inch baking pan with baking spray. Line the pan with parchment paper so that there is a 2 inch overhang on the two long sides of the pan. (This makes it easier to lift the pie bars out of the pan after baking.)
• Beat the butter, brown and white sugars, and vanilla extract for crust in a large bowl with an electric mixer until combined and fluffy, 4 to 5 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Add the flour and salt; mix at low speed until combined. Refrigerate dough for 10 minutes.
• With lightly moistened hands, press about 2/3 of the crust mixture evenly along the bottom of prepared pan; refrigerate pan for 5 to 7 minutes. Place the remaining 1/3 of the crust mixture in the fridge until needed.
• Bake crust in the preheated oven until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Place on a wire rack to cool. Leave the oven on.
• To prepare the filling, toss the pear slices and lemon juice together in a large bowl. Add the brown sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, and salt; toss well to coat. Spread the pears evenly over the crust.
• Tear the reserved crust mixture into small pieces. Using your hands, combine the walnuts with the dough and scatter the mixture evenly over the pears.
• Bake in the preheated oven 1 hour, rotating pan halfway through, until the pears are fork-tender and the topping is golden brown. Cool completely in the pan, 1 to 2 hours.
• To prepare the caramel sauce, combine the sugar and water in a medium, heavy saucepan over medium-low heat; cook, stirring often, until the sugar dissolves.
• Increase the heat to medium-high; bring to a boil-without stirring, but instead, regularly swirling the pan and occasionally brushing down the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush. Cook, swirling and brushing regularly, until the syrup turns a deep amber color, 12 to 17 minutes.
• Gently pour in the heavy cream (the caramel will foam and bubbly up vigorously). Add in the butter pieces and stir gently until smooth. Remove the caramel from heat and stir in the salt.
• When ready to serve, use the parchment overhang to lift the slab from the pan and slice into bars. Drizzle with the caramel sauce.

PEAR-CARDAMOM PIE WITH ALMOND CRUST

Steps:

• Make crust:
• Blend flour, marzipan and salt in processor until marzipan is finely ground. Add butter and shortening and cut in using on/off turns until mixture resembles coarse meal. Mix 3 tablespoons pear nectar and almond extract and blend in using on/off turns. Gradually blend in enough pear nectar by tablespoonfuls to form moist clumps. Gather dough into ball. Divide dough into 2 pieces. Flatten each into disk. Wrap each disk in plastic and refrigerate 2 hours. (Dough can be prepared up to 3 days ahead. Keep refrigerated. Soften dough slightly at room temperature before rolling out.)
• Make filling:
• Grind brown sugar and vanilla bean in processor 1 minute. Add cornstarch and cardamom and process until vanilla bean is almost completely blended. Transfer to large bowl. Add pears and pear nectar; toss to coat.
• Position rack in bottom third of oven and preheat to 400°F. Roll out 1 dough disk between sheets of floured parchment paper to 13-inch round. Peel off top sheet of parchment. Invert dough into 9-inch-diameter glass pie dish. Peel off top sheet of parchment. Trim overhang to 1/2 inch. Transfer filling to crust. Roll out second dough disk between sheets of floured parchment to 13-inch round. Drape dough over filling. Trim overhang to 1/2 inch. Press edges together to seal; fold under. Crimp edge decoratively.
• Gather scraps and reroll between sheets of floured parchment. Cut out leaf shapes using cookie cutter. Arrange atop pie. Brush top of crust (not edge) with glaze. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon sugar. Cut several slits in top to allow steam to escape during baking. Bake pie 15 minutes. Cover crust edge with foil to prevent over-browning. Continue baking until crust browns and pears are almost tender when pierced with skewer, about 40 minutes. Cool pie on rack at least 1 1/2 hours. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature.