Preparation: 10 minutes
Cooking: 35 minutes
Ingredients
2 Beurre Bosc pears, peeled but left whole
2 tablespoons flaked almonds
2 cups water
1 lemon, juiced
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 sheets ready made sweet puff pastry
4 teaspoons apricot conserve
1 egg white, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon caster sugar
Method
Heat the oven to 200°C. Place the flaked almonds on a baking tray and cook in the oven for 5 minutes or until golden. Set aside until later. Bring the water to the boil in a deep saucepan and add the lemon juice and sugar. Stir until the sugar dissolves.
Add the peeled pears and lower the heat. Poach for 10-15 minutes until tender, (depending on ripeness), turning occasionally. Remove from the poaching liquid and allow to cool while you prepare the pastry.
Take one sheet of the pastry and place the second sheet on top. Gently press together. Cut the pastry into 4 pear shapes (large enough for half the pear to fit on top and a 1-2 cm border). Spread a teaspoon of apricot conserve in the centre of each square.
Place the pastry shapes on a baking tray. Cut the pears in half and remove the core. Place one pear half on top of the jam in the middle of each pastry shape. Brush with the egg white and sprinkle with the caster sugar. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until the pastry is puffed and golden.
Sprinkle with the toasted almonds and serve with thick cream or vanilla ice-cream.
