While in The South trying every mac n cheese along the way, a beautiful box of Harry and David fresh pears arrived at our home in the PNW. They sat for a week at the post office and when finally delivered, they were very ripe. Ripe enough that I knew I had to use them quickly.
Here’s what I did:
A recent discovery that has made cooking and baking a bit easier around The Manse is Rhodes Frozen Dinner Rolls. I use them to make Mini Pizzas and decided to use them as the base for my new dessert with pears.
Before starting, I googled “Poached Pears” and found a very useful step-by-step article at David Lebovitz’s “Living the Good Life in Paris” Website. David’s article became the basis for my poaching.
Ingredients:
For poaching liquid and syrup:
2 Cups Sweet Riesling
2 Cups Water
2 Cups Turbinado Sugar
Cardoman
Fresh Ginger Slices
For mini-pizzas:
Rhodes Frozen Yeast Dinner Rolls, Thawed and Raised
Canola Oil to lightly coat the rolls (to avoid sticking to the cooking pan) – I coat them while still frozen and then coat them again when thawed and beginning to raise.
6 Poached Pears, peeled, cored and sliced into large wedges
Cashews, crushed
Stilton Blue, crumbled
Poaching syrup
Chocolate Sauce – I used new Hershey’s Chocolate Spread, heated, which was a “perk” from Klout.com.
Preparations:
Allow rolls to thaw and raise. This will take several hours depending on the temperature of your kitchen. Follow the directions on the package.
Poach pears. Please visit David Lebovitz for details on poaching. I pretty much followed his directions.
After removing pears from poaching liquid, I reduced the poaching liquid to make a syrup which I also used.
Allow pears to cool down.
Once rolls are raised and pears are cool, begin assembling your mini pizzas.
Flatten the rolls to create a surface for your pears. Create a lip on the edges to keep pears from sliding off while baking (the yeast will cause the dough to rise a bit).
Slice your pears into thin slices and place on dough.
Top with crumbled blue cheese and crushed cashews.
Place in 350 degree oven and bake for 8-10 minutes; until dough begins to brown. Use a pizza pans with tiny holes to brown the underside of the pizzas.
Remove from oven and drizzle with poaching syrup and chocolate sauce.
Named after Best-Selling Author of the Cheese Shop Mysteries, Avery Aames, who gave me the pears. Watch for her new Cheese Shop Mystery, The Days of Wine and Roquefort, in your bookseller on February 14… what will Charlotte be up to this time???
Up next: savory mini pizzas made using the frozen yeast rolls – easy peasy…
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