Sunday, October 3, 2010

PPQ: Pear Maple Cobblers


It's my turn to pick the Project Pastry Queen recipe again!  I love it when its my turn, but I definitely feel the pressure.  What if no one wants to make my recipe?  What if no one likes it?  I have been pretty obsessed with fall fruits lately, so it came down to a choice between pears, apples, and pumpkins for me.  I figured others would choose pumpkin (I was right), and since I'd made both the caramel-apple cheesecake pie and the apple-spice layer cake recently, I went with pears.  And since I absolutely love maple, I went with pear-maple cobblers.

This is a great dessert for entertaining, and they are easy to make as a last minute dessert.  The filling comes together in minutes, and as it bakes, the cobbler topping is quickly thrown together.  This is a super easy dessert that would be absolutely fabulous with either some maple-spiked whipped cream or cinnamon ice cream. 

I made a few small changes.  The nutmeg was a little heavy-handed for my taste, so I'd recommend cutting half of it with cinnamon.  I also diced my pears, as the thought of quartered pears didn't seem quite right.  I also added an extra pear for every 2 cobblers to make a higher pear-to-cobbler ratio.  All in all, this is a wonderful fall dessert.  It will definitely stay in my rotation as an easy dessert option - you know, when you just need something sweet.

We're going savory next week - Brie and Brisket Quesadillas!




Individual Pear-Maple Cobblers
adapted from The Pastry Queen
makes 6 servings
  • 5 pears, peeled, cored, and chopped
  • 2/3 cup pure maple syrup
  • 2 Tbs all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 2 Tbs chilled usalted butter, sliced into 6 even pats
Cobbler Topping
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, chilled
  • 1/2 cup + 1 Tbs heavy cream
  • 1/2 cup  + 1 Tbs maple syrup
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 3 Tbs sugar
Preheat the oven to 425.  Combine the pears, maple syrup, four, salt, vanilla, and nutmeg in a bowl.  Stir well and divide the mixture evenly among six ramekins.  Top each with one pat f butter.  Bake until heated through and bubbly, about 18-20 minutes.

To make the topping, combine the flour, baking powder,  and1/8 tsp nutmeg in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade.  Combine the remaining nutmeg, cinnamon, and sugar in a small bowl and set aside.  Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter and set aside.  Cut the remaining 6 tablespoons into 6 pieces and add them to the flour mixture.  Process until fine crumbs form.  Add the cream, maple syrup, and vanilla, and process until just combined.  Drop by spoonfuls over the warm pear filling.  Brush the topping with the melted butter, and sprinkle with the reserved sugar mixture.

Bake 14 minutes, until golden-brown and firm to the touch.  Serve warm.


7 comments:

amanda @ fake ginger said...

Thanks for choosing this one - it's not something I would have ever made on my own. Yours looks really good!

the blissful baker said...

sounds scrumptious :) i've never baked with pears before, but now i just might!

Eliana said...

Awesome pick girl! This looks and sounds super delicious.

Kelsey said...

This looks incredible!

Anonymous said...

These were really good! I don't own ramekins, so I baked it in an 8x8 glass pan. Since I was preparing this on the fly, I used Asian pears and substituted Fat-free Half and Half in place of the heavy cream. They still turned about amazing.

Candy S said...

Made this tonight...found you thru foodgawker. Was delicious...I'm now a pear convert!

Candy S said...

Made this tonight...found you thru foodgawker. Was delicious...I'm now a pear convert!

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