Nature's Wisdom

Within the seed of your desire is everything necessary for it to blossom to fulfillment.

Heavenly winter desserts ... 100% pears

For the holidays, we were really happy to receive a a box filled of goodies from our family. This shipment from Harry and David included a box of Royal Riviera pears, an heirloom Comice pear that originated in Anjou. {A region in the lower Loire Valley of western France.} As soon as I saw these gorgeous fruits, I knew I had to bake them into something heavenly. After some research through my baking binders, I found 2 recipes that would suit that delicious Comice pear, which also happen to be my favorite.

The first one is a caramelized pears tart with a mascarpone cream. I was interested in trying this recipe because of its unusual crust: a typical shortbread from Brittany. Usually made with salted butter, this shortbread dough also include baking powder to give it a flaky texture. The contrast of a salty and flaky crust with the smoothness of the mascarpone cream, and the melting caramelized pears is simply out of this world .... Needless to say to say that this recipe has become a keeper.!!



The second recipe is a light winter delight ... poached pears in a vanilla syrup, a recipe from Pierre Hermé. Les poires au sirop vanillé as we call them in French, is a refreshing way to end a meal. Rich in flavor but still respecting the integrity of the fruit, this desert is to be enjoyed without {almost} no moderation.

I had some extra dough from the caramelized pears tart, so I baked some shortbread cookies that worked really well with these poached pears.

Caramelized pears tart with a mascarpone cream
(Recipe for 6 persons)

Shortbread crust
200 gr flour
150 gr soften butter
130 gr sugar
2 egg yolks
13 gr baking powder
6 gr Kosher salt or sea salt

Filling
3 pears
2 tbs butter
1 tbs Honey
50 gr pistachios
50 ml Rhum or Brandi
250 gr mascarpone
100 gr sugar

Preparing the shortbread crust
On a standmixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix the egg yolk and sugar. Them add the butter, flour, baking powder and salt. Finish working with your hands to make sure the dough is homogenous. Do not overwork. Let it rest for at least one hour in the fridge covered with a plastic film. Roll the dough and fill a 22cm / 9 inch pastry ring or pie pan. {I like my crust to be rather thick to mimic a shortbread.}
Cook at 160°C / 320°F until golden, about 20 minutes. Let it cool down.

Preparing the caramelized pears
Sear the pears, cut in halves with the butter and honey. Once melted, added the Rhum or Brandi and pistachios. Let it reduce and caramelized.

Finishing the tart
Mix the mascarpone and sugar, and spread on the tart crust. Top with the caramelized pear.

Poached pears with a vanilla syrup from Pierre Hermé
(Recipe for 4 to 6 pears - From the cookbook Le Larousse des Desserts)

4 - 6 pears
500 ml water
250 gr sugar
2 lemons
1 vanilla bean (split and scraped)

Peel and core the pears to remove all the seeds. Rub them with the juice of 1 lemon.

In a large saucepan, combine the water, sugar, vanilla bean and the juice of a half lemon. Add the pears and bring to a boil. Cook on a gentle boil for 10 - 15 minutes. Test the readiness with a knife, the pears still need to be slightly firm. Let them cool down, and keep in the fridge for at least 3 hours, overnight is better. Enjoy!

Hand-tied bouquet with a spring feel

Every time I see gorgeous roses at my local supermarket, I can't resist ... I have to buy them. {I do have more than a sweet spot for flowers.} Their cheerful bright color just reminded me that Spring is just around the corner, at least here in California!

To create this bouquet, I started by creating an armature with the curly willow. Unlike the one I made for the Rustic Chic bridal bouquet, I created more volume by looping the curly willow in different directions. Once the base was made, I inserted the roses, grouping them by color and working on depth so that all the flowers do not end-up at the same level. I then added the tulips whose stems are more fragile. I usually like to take them out of water for 1 hour before designing, so that they become more manageable. I finished by adding the thyme at the base. I used some wrapping material to conceal my tying point.

{Materials}
12 light yellow roses
8 bright orange roses
10 yellow tulips
1 bunch of curly willow
2 bunch of thyme
wrapping material or ribbon