Have you seen a recipe on a blog or on a food porn site or Pinterest that you think, wow, this would be quick and easy? Well that’s what I thought about this toffee pear galette.
I found it on Pinterest in a few places and I’d do it differently next time. Not sure if it’s a galette or a tart or some French word that you know you’ll never remember? If I have misnamed this, it’s only because I found it on the interwebs and did the old assuming.
Well it was easy and it was quick but I need to do that thing I mentioned the other day called common sense. I used commercial puff pastry – of the cheap variety since it was for family eating and then I followed the directions on the amount of toffee sauce. Definite spillover.
All that said – this was so good I was nearly tempted to have a second helping. I only made three so that meant John was going to miss out if I had two. If he hadn’t seen me taking photos, I could have gotten away with it but alas, he came down and said, “Those look good!”
I felt better today than I have in weeks. I did laundry, changed bed linen, cleaned the pool, made a cake, made ice cream and I made this pear dessert. All this from a woman who’s been barely able to moan for way too long. Now if I can keep going without overdoing it and ending up moaning again, life will be exeedingly good.
If you’re looking for an elegant AND easy dessert – make this one. You can poach the pears ahead of time and you can make the toffee sauce (or buy caramel sauce) ahead of time. Then on the day, you put the tarts together and pop in the fridge. When you serve dinner, put these in the oven and 20 minutes later, they’ll be puffed, golden and delicious.
I served this with whipped cream but I’d probably serve it with vanilla bean ice cream too next time. It was 4pm and I’d just finished the photos and Rob and I tucked in. I know, I know – we’re bad. He’d had a crappy day over family affairs and an extra dessert always helps. Especially if it has cream on top.
- 2 pears
- 1 vanilla bean, split and seeded
- 2 cups sugar
- 3 cups water
- ½ lemon juiced
- ¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons dark corn syrup (I only had light and it worked just fine)
- ¾ stick butter
- ⅔ cup heavy cream
- 2 sheets puff pastry (185 grams)
- 1 egg (for egg wash)
- Peel each pear from stem down. Brush each pear with lemon juice to avoid browning.
- Place sugar and water in a saucepan over medium heat and stir until sugar has dissolved. Increase heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Add pears and vanilla pod and cut a circle of baking paper and place it on top of the pears. Cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes until tender. Turn occasionally so all sides sit in the syrup.
- Remove from heat and let cool enough to handle. (or place in fridge for later use)
- Put the sugar, syrup and butter in a pan and slowly bring to the boil, allowing the butter to melt and the sugar to dissolve.
- Let the mixture bubble for a couple of minutes before carefully adding the cream.
- Cook for another 2 to 3 minutes or until the sauce is thick, sticky and glossy.
- Pre-heat oven to 200C/400F (190C fan forced)
- Use a large cutter or a cardboard template and a knife and cut out rounds of puff pastry and place on a baking sheet lined with baking paper.
- Cut another circle and remove the center and place on the first ring to make a raised edge (you need the edge to hold the toffee sauce)
- Pour a couple of tablespoons of toffee sauce in the bottom of the puff pastry circle.
- Cut the pears in half (trying to have stem on both pieces.
- With a spoon scoop out the seeds.
- Place cut side down and using a knife slice the pear thickly but only ¾ of the way up.
- Fan out the slices and place on the toffee sauce.
- Bake 20-25 minutes until the pastry is puffed and golden.
- Serve with cream, ice cream or custard.