Tag: Pear

Easter 2020. Pear and no chocolate overdose!

Easter 2020 and pear. And chocolate of course.  Did you manage Easter without a chocolate overdose?

Not to worry, there was chocolate involved in our household.  We made an Easter bunny, two large Easter eggs and a myriad of small eggs.  Tempering chocolate is a great introduction for children to chemistry. Very messy though!

Poached autumn pear and its zabaglione mousse

This Easter 2020, for the meals I aimed at using some beautiful autumn ingredients I had gathered (in the shops considering we can’t travel): chestnuts, mushrooms, beans, a nice joint of lamb, different types of pears.  What to do? Slowly this idea came up.  Pear was going to be the queen of Easter 2020.  I ended up poaching some pears in a mix of squeezed orange juice and spices.  I was not going to discard the poaching liquid! The poaching liquid was the basis for a zabaglione mousse.  The zabaglione was delicious warm, as a  mousse, it has a great texture and works well with the poached pear.  I  prefered it warm butone of my kids loves it as a cold mousse, so that comes down to personal preferences.

poached pear poached pear in zabaglione

Other pear recipes

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I cook a lot with pears at the moment, obviously peak season. Check out these recipes that may inspire you.

Pear tarte tatin – works for pear and apple. The trick is to cook the fruits in a very buttery water bath before making the pie. The method behind the recipe comes from a reknown French pastry chef, Christophe Michalak.  PS- you can find real butter puff pastry in Asutralian supermarkets now!

Pear and chocolate flan – a rapid and very easy recipe. It is a crowd lover and can be used to make use of those pears about to go off.

A bit more elaborate, this pear and chocolate tarte is a winner and always makes an impression.  You will need to make a shorcrust pastry. It is a great dessert to finish off a diner party! – the photo I have is not exceptional, a good excuse to do it soon!

I like this more conventional pear and almond tarte.

Last year, I made this chocolate and standing pear cake. It was pretty good. I will put it back on my list for this month.

My last idea, the very simple Poire Belle Helene, one of my favourite classic.  Here with a little chocolate twist.

I can’t  believe I was about to forget the good old simple rural pear tarte.  it is the same recipe as the classic apple tarte or pretty much.  The evening classic of many families.  I grew up with those!

Zabaglione mousse with its autumn pear

Zabaglione mousse with its autumn pear or as I wanted to name it Mousse sabayon a la poire d’automne.  More simply it is a beautiful poached pear in a pear mousse.

There are three ways the pear flavours and autumn tones come in: the colours are the yellow and brown of the autumn season, the pear is poached in an orange and spice syrup, the same syrup is then used in the zabaglione mousse.

For the poached pear in autumn syrup, click HERE to the recipe.

Serves 4 or 5 .  The recipe here ends up making 5 mousse servings, so either add a pear to the recipe of the poached pear if there are five or you will just fill one ramequin for an extra serve the next day.

For this recipe you need a wide whisk.

Ingredients:
  • 4 (or 5) poached pear (recipe HERE)

    poached pear
    Poached pears you will need for this recipe, you will also need its cooking syrup.
  • 300 mL of the poached pear syrup, strained through a  sieve.
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 50 g caster sugar
  • 1 portion of cognac (optional)
  • 1.5 gelatine leaf titanium strength (5 g)
  • 300 mL of cream, whipped.
  • Rosemary to serve
Method:
  1. Place 3 cm of water in a saucepan and bring to the boil, once boiling, allow to simmer.
  2. Put the gelative leave in a bowl of cold water.
  3. In a large metal bowl, place together the syrup, egg yolks, caster sugar, cognac.  Give it a good mix.
  4. Place the bowl over the simering water.    From that time you need to whisk until the mix at least doubles in volume, becomes clear and becomes very foamy. It will also thicken. This takes about five minutes.  making a zabaglione
  5. Remove from the heat. Drain the gelatine and add it to the zabaglione, mix well. Allow to cool for a few minutes while you sort out your serving dishes, then fold through the whipped cream.
  6. Distribute between five ramequins or bowls.   Place the pears in the middle of each dish. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.  Add a few leaves of rosemary before serving.

poeached pear in zabaglione mousse

Poached pears in autumn syrup

This poached pears in autumn syrup recipe aims at a not too sweet cooked pear with subtle earthy  flavours. To be eaten with a dry biscuit, or a crumble of roasted chestnuts or a cream such as creme anglaise or a sabayon. poached pear

A sabayon is more known in Australia as a zabaglione.

There are many ways with poached pears. None can be wrong, pears are so versatile! If you are after stronger flavours you can use white wine or red wine as a basis to your syrup.  Here the syrup is based on orange juice.

Ingredients:

For poached pear in autumn syrup, think what may be available easily. It is peak citrus season, the beginning of colder days where fresh ginger is a must have stapple against the eventual cold, rosemary is abundant (that can be said all year round really for rosemary) and summer fruits season with stronger flavours are over.

  • 4 beurre bosc pears, firm
  • juice of 6 oranges
  • juice of half a lemon
  • 1 string of rosemary
  • 140 g of white sugar
  • about 3 cm³ of fresh ginger cut in thing slices
  • 250 mL of water (1 cup)
  • 1 cinamon roll
  • 2 pinches of grated nutmeg
Method:
  1. Assemble all the ingredients in a saucepan and slowly heat up.
  2. In the meanwhile, peel the pears without cutting them. With the pointy end of the knife you are using  remove the core coring through the bottom of the pear. At the same time, ensure the bottom is flat so the pear can stand vertical, if not, trim slightly.
  3. Place the pears in the syrup (you may have to put the pears on their sides), bring to a simmer and cook for about 20 minutes.  Remove from the heat and allow to cool down in the saucepan.
  4. When ready to serve, remove the pear and place them on a plate to allow them to drain. Pass the syrup through a sieve and retain separately.

Tip: the syrup can keep more than a week in the fridge if you dont use it readily.  Use the syrup in a drink such as spiced hot wine, or a flavoured tea, or to make a semolina cake or as a basis for zabaglione.

poached pear

You will never fail your tarte Tatin again

Tarte Tatin or the upside down tarte.

Tarte Tatin is a French dessert,  with lots of butter, caramel and a beautiful pastry.  It is cooked with the pastry on top, not underneath like a usual tarte.  After cooling down a little, it is turned upside down on a serving plate.

Until now, mine resembled a gooey gathering of fruits and caramel.  I must say, since I tried this tip maybe three-month ago, I have found a new “Waho” dessert that is simple to make.  I know, some will say, I always say so (which is not true!)… Try, this will become your dinner party dessert. And you know what:  it is not a chocolate – even though we love it – recipe!

So, what results do you get?

I made the same recipe with apple and with pears.  For the later, make sure they are not too soft. By now at least two to three-time each. The last one was a large size one on Monday. Yes a week day! I have taken a few photos. I realise the best apple tarte Tatin were not photographed.  Check out the fruits sitting!  I can’t believe it every time I unmold one these days.

Tatin poires tatin pommes

And what is that tip?

A classic tarte Tatin recipe will call for you to either cook the fruits with butter and sugar in a thick based frypan and somehow avoid a puree or place the uncooked fruits directly in the baking tin and pray that they be cooked by the time the pastry is ready. I never fancied either techniques (I guess you got that by now).

The tip comes from Christophe Michalak, a French pastry chef very followed at the moment.  To be frank, he is a Master Patissier. I made some of his recipes (I made this amazing strawberry tarte of his a couple weeks ago for a birthday, delicious!!) and they are pretty good and very practical. All are not necessarily that easy.

Ok, the tip! Let us come back to our topic.  All right, swap the frypan for a good size saucepan. Butter, sugar, vanilla and peeled quartered fruits all get in and relax in there for a bit in their little jacuzzi until they are soft. That is the tip! No pureed fruits! Plenty space for them to move and cook slowly without coming to pieces. You are left with an interesting juice, which can be used for another Tatin or something else.  I have one on the corner of the stove right now and am getting ideas…

Back to our tarte Tatin again.  Then, you place the fruits over a caramel (you didn’t think you are going to stay idle all that time, did you?) you have previously  covered the base and side of the metal tin with.  Your job there is to ensure the pieces are fruits are cosy side by side.  Then the pastry comes on top, and all is sent for a little bit more warmth in Mr Oven for a little bit.

Conclusion: You will never fail your tarte Tatin again!

If you want the recipe, click HERE.

tatin pomme

La Tarte Tatin, the unfailable recipe

The Tarte Tatin is traditionally an apple tarte which fruits are precooked and coasted with caramel. It cooks head down, that is with the pastry on top like for a pie, and the tarte is then flipped onto a serving plate displaying then thick layer of fruits generously caramelised over a crusty pastry. Yum!

The  tin you use does not need to be too wide. Note that this dessert is quite nutritious (plenty butter and sugar).

I wrote a post on THE TIP which makes this recipe a foolproof success!  I didn’t make it up, only tumbled over it one happy day.  The secret is in the way the fruits are cooked, instead of cooking them in a fry-pan, they cook in a volume of water with sugar, vanilla and butter. Don’t discard that beautiful butter sauce, you can use it for a semolina cake or just plain semolina or any other creative idea.

Note: you can choose to use a shortcrust pastry (not sweet) or here I have chosen puff pastry.

Tatin poires
This is a pear tarte Tatin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Serves 8 people.

Ingredients:
  • 150 g of caster sugar for the caramel
  • 300 g of  sugar for the fruits cooking
  • 300 g of unsalted butter
  • 300 ml of water
  • 1 vanilla bean, beans scrapped and placed in the water with the remaining bean.
  • 6 to 8 large apples
  • 1 quantity of puff pastry
  • Apple jelly or apricot jam to brush the top for a nice finish (I did not do it on the tartes displayed here)
Method:
  1. Quarter (half only if using pears), peel and core your fruits.
  2. Heat up the oven to 170°C
  3. Place the fruits, water, butter, sugar (300 g) and vanilla in a saucepans and bring to a small boil.  Cook until the fruits are just tender through (use a skewer to check).
  4. The tin you will use is important. It should be non stick and fully closed (at the bottom) i.e. a springform baking tin is not your best option here. An aluminium tin is the best here.
  5. In a thick bottom saucepan, place the rest of the sugar and heat up. When the sugar starts to dissolve and colour, do not be tempted to mix with a spoon, however you can shake the saucepan to distribute the sugar evenly. When your caramel is of a brown (do not go too dark), pour into the tin and making sure your hands are protected from the heat (use tea towels to handle the tin), turn the tin to distribute the caramel on the bottom and lower half of the sides.
  6. While the apples are cooking, you can roll the puff pastry out (unless you have some pre-rolled one) to 3 to 4 mm thickness.
  7. When the fruits are ready, allow them to cool down. This is only to avoid burning your fingertips though, so if you are in a hurry, skip this.
  8. Place the fruits quite close to each other over the caramel their outer face pointing partially up (see the photo of the tarte, this should make sense).
  9. Bake for 30 minutes or until the pastry on top is well golden.
  10. Allow to cool in the tin to warm before turning over.  You can then brush some apple jelly or apricot jam (dilute it with a bit of hot water before).
  11. Serve warm with a dollop of creme fraiche or some whipped cream.

Autumn cooking. Today lets speak about pears

Autumn or early winter cooking, what does this means for you? I heard yesterday someone saying this was the return of roasts in their households. For some others it is chestnuts in the fire-place or a glass of red wine by the fire.  For me at home it is the return of pears, lemons, chestnuts, apples, wild mushrooms and in terms of dishes this is the return of soups and more slow cooked meat dishes or casseroles.

Pears variety in Australia

The main stream pear varieties are  the beurre bosc pear,  the packham pear and the corella pear.   Those varieties are also referred as “european pears”.  The William pear comes from the beurre bosc and is a northern America pear where it is known as the barlett. It is classified as a european pear.

There is a good fact sheet on the varieties and their availability through the Apple and Pear Australia Limited (APAL) website.

The beurre bosc is elongated golden to  pear varietylight brown skin pear.  The skin is quite thick, the flesh is compact , yet very tasty.

 

 

 

pearThe william pear arrives earlier in the season, late summer to early autumn.  It is of medium size, not so elongated as the beurre bosc with quite a round belly.  The william is green when unripe and becomes yellow with or without red parts when ripe. It is a good pear to eat raw, it can also be cooked.

 

The packham pear is a parent of thepear variety william pear and looks quite like it. It is a medium so large size pear, green when unripe and a beautiful yellow when ripe.  When ripe it is juicy and very tasty.  The pear is consumed raw or cooked.

 

 

 

pear varietyCorella pears are quite small, yellow to red in colour.  Their flesh is juicy and milder in flavour than the william, beurre bosc or packham pear.  This pear variety is also good both for cooking and raw.

 

There is also the nashi pear also called “asian pear” variety  which is currently found on markets. The nashi pear is small, quite round, of light colour. It is very juicy with quite a bland taste.

Pear & Nutmeg Cake with Chocolate Sauce

I loved for a while those cake with the pears standing upright directly inside the cake. So last week, apparently it was my “mother’s day cake” made by me for me ….and family.

The cake recipe is based on a “quatre quarts” recipe, a French classic cake where flour, sugar, eggs and butter are at equal weight.  I decreased the quantity of sugar, swapped a little flour for hazelnut meal (which I don’t think made much of a difference), added cocoa and a little nutmeg. The pears can be pre-cooked in a sugar syrup if not ripe, else, it is not necessary to cook them.

The cake is cooked until just set, which will leave the middle soft and gooey.  The cake is served with a warm chocolate sauce.

pear chocolate dessert pear chocolate dessert pear chocolate dessert

The recipe is HERE.

 

 

Standing pear chocolate cake with its sauce

For this standing pear  chocolate cake, you will need some small pears, preferably ripe, although not so much they crumble in your fingers.  If your pears aren’t ripe, you should cook them partly in a sugar syrup . Note, there are many ways with sugar syrups for pears, for example, if you don’t have any wine for the poaching, you can use orange juice.  The flavour will be different but still beautiful.

As for the nutmeg, I was experimenting and probably put a little too much (1/2 teaspoon) which was not overbearing but maybe not to everyone’s taste. I have reduced it in the recipe. You could also put a pinch of cayenne pepper or medium chilli powder.

pear chocolate dessert

Ingredients:

For the cake

  • 5 small ripe pears, peeled and cored from the bottom, stem on
  • 4 eggs (about 60 g each)
  • 160 g of sugar
  • 200 g of butter, melted
  • 30 g of hazelnut meal
  • 140 g of plain flour
  • 1 tsp of raising powder
  • 1/4 tsp of freshly grounded nutmeg
  • 60 g dutch cocoa

For the chocolate sauce (from Pierre Herme):

  • 250 ml of water
  • 125 ml of cream
  • 130 g of dark 70% chocolate
  • 70 g of sugar
Preparation:
  1. Line the bottom and side of a springform pan, about 25 cm wide (it can be less but no wider).
  2. Preheat oven to 170°C.
  3. Mix the eggs and sugar until quite moussy. Add in melted butter, nutmeg, cocoa powder and hazelnut meal.
  4. Add in the flour and raising powder.
  5. Pour the batter into the lined mould, placing on pear in the middle and the other pears evenly as a ring.  Make sure there is batter underneath each pear.
  6. Bake until just set (about 30-40 minutes, it varies between ovens), the cake will show a few cracks on the sides and the top does not appear wobbly when the cake tin is slightly pushed.  Allow the cake to cool down a little (or more if time allows) before transferring to a serving plate.   The cake will collapse in the middle as it should still be gooey.
  7. To prepare the chocolate sauce, cut the chocolate in small pieces.  Place in a thick based saucepan the water, sugar, cream and chocolate.  Slowly heat up and stir until smooth with a wooden spoon. Bring to boiling point and simmer while stirring constantly until the sauce becomes unctuous and covers the back of the wooden spoon.  Use the sauce hot, or allow to cool at room temperature and use warm.  The excess sauce keeps in the fridge for two weeks.

Tip-  transferring the cake can be a little tricky.  I use the removable metal bottom of a tart tin as a very large spatula. 

Tip – Keep the cake at room temperature if leftovers (i.e. not in the fridge).

pear chocolate dessert

Poires Belles Helene

A perfect light dessert with a little chocolate treat! A poire belle Helene is a poached pear, covered in dark chocolate sauce.  There is nothing very technical in it. This recipe includes a small crumble, if you have some biscuits, you can omit the crumble and serve with a biscuit.

poached pear

Serves 6 people

Ingredients:

For the poached pears

  • 1 beurre-bosc pear per person, not too ripe
  • Juice of 3 oranges
  • 2 cups of dry white wine
  • 1 roll of cinnamon
  • ½ vanilla bean seeds scrapped
  • 3 star anises
  • 2 cups white sugar
  • 1 lemon juice
  • 6 cloves
  • 5 grains all spice – whole (can omit if you don’t have any)
  • 1 to 2 cups of water

For the crumble

  • ½ cup of shelled pistachios
  • 1 cup of plain flour
  • ½ cup of brown sugar
  • ½ cup of soft (not melted) butter

For the chocolate sauce:

  • 100 g of 70% cooking chocolate in pellets or cut into small pieces
  • 2/3 up of the poaching sauce

poached pear

Method:
  1. Peel the pears being careful to keep the stem.  Once peeled, extrude with the the end of a pointy knife the bottom end to remove the seeds.
  2. In a saucepan, place all the poaching ingredients. Only put one cup of water at this stage.  Bring to a simmer. Once the sugar is dissolved, place the pears in the saucepan. Add just enough of the last cup of water to cover (there may be little parts sticking out, don’t worry).
  3. Simmer for about 30 minutes or until soft when inserting a skewer in a pear. For those pears slightly sticking out, roll them from time to time.
  4. Leave to cool in the saucepan away from the heat until needed.
  5. For the crumble, place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until combined. Spread on a baking sheet, and bake for about 10-15 minutes in an oven on 180°C.  Make sure to stir through every few minutes to ensure the crumble pieces do not stick to each other. When it comes close to 10 minutes, it tends to cook very quickly, so watch out to avoid burning it.
  6. When the crumble is ready, remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.
  7. For the chocolate sauce, pour 2/3 cup of the hot poaching juice on top of the chocolate, stir until melted.
  8. To serve: place a pear in the middle of a place, standing up. Use a ladles to pour the chocolate sauce right over the stem of the pear until fully covered. Place 2 tablespoons of the crumble on one side of the pear. Serve.

Note: the pears can be room temperature or warm.

 

poached pear

Baking aplenty!

These last couple weeks, there has been intense activity in the kitchen, I mean more than usual.  There has been renovation works, still are actually.  Now, I have, after 18 month of cooking on an outdoor stove, a good oven and cooktop and, ceiling lights and power plugs there and there! You can imagine I was pretty excited to get this new oven to the test! In addition to that, I will be managing the food stall at my daughter’s school Halloween Fete and I am trialing a few recipes! A great adventure.  Hence, cooking aplenty at the moment!

Last pears of the year

Pears are nearing the end of their season in Australia and I came across a bunch of them just begging to be used on the seconds trolley of my grocery store.  Of course I could not resist!  I have been willing to do an almond pear tarte for a while.

tarte poire et amande

I ended by using a Donna Hay recipe .  The recipe is easy.  There is no tart shell. The tart consists simply in a cake dough placed in a tarte tin with pears pushed in it. Cool it down it its tin and serve on a long platter.  I would advise to place some baking paper at the bottom, this would make the removal of the bottom part of the tin easy.  Click HERE for the recipe.

Tarte amande et poireLook how we recycled an old laundry wash board!

tarte poire et amande

Bread renewal!

With my new oven which keeps the steam (and the heat), I have made a try at semi-sourdough baguettes.  Mines were quite short, just to make sure they could fit in the oven.  Success!!!

mini baguettes

 

These below is the preshape stage.

mini baguette preshape

And another beauty, this one baked Friday night. A semi-rhye sourdough

semi rhye sourdough

Halloween pre-taste

For the school fete food menu, I have decided to expand a bit into some creative pieces that the children will beg their parents to get them.   I will speak more about it in a coming post, here is a little pre-taste!

madeleine bugs halloween

These creatures are madeleines covered in coloured white chocolate. The antennas are pretzels.

 

Pear and Almond Tarte

Pear and almond are so good together. This tarte is not only very easy to make, it presents well. The recipe is from Donna Hay, with a few twicks in the method. This tarte has no shell, it is a cake with the fruits placed on top. The shape of the tin makes it (plus it is good!)!

Pear and almond tarte

Ingredients:
  • 90 g of soft butter (I use salted butter)
  • 90 g of brown sugar (1/2 cup)
  • 2 eggs
  • 120 g of almond meal (1 cup)
  • 40 g of plain flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons of finely grated lemon rind (decrease to 1 if you prefer the lemon flavour to be softer)
  • 2 pears (I used Corella, you can use Packham, Williams would work well, but not too ripe)
  • 90 g brown sugar (1/2 cup)
  • raw sugar for sprinkling
Method
  1. Preheat oven to 160°C. Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of a food processor and process until just combined. Add the eggs, almond meal, flour, baking powder and lemon rind and mix until just combined.
  2. Spoon the mixture into a lightly greased 9.5cm x 33cm loose-bottom fluted tarte tin. Here, you may want to use baking paper to cover only the bottom of the tarte tin, this will make the transition to the serving dish easier.
  3. Place the pears and extra brown sugar in a bowl and toss to coat. Press the pears into the tart mixture and bake for 35–40 minutes or until golden brown. You may not be able to place all your pieces of pear.
  4. Sprinkle with raw sugar and allow to cool in the tin. pear and almond tarte

 

Pear & Chocolate Tart

This pear and chocolate tart is a beautiful desert, it is light, fresh and delicious.  Nobody at the table will know what that chocolate is hiding!   This pear and chocolate tart combines the delicateness of the pears and of melted chocolate.  You will need ripe pears, you may want to plan ahead if your grocer only sells hard stone pears.

This desert does not need to be placed in the fridge, except if the weather is very hot, or the chocolate-butter cover will sweat like on the photo here when taken out of the fridge.  This results in a photo not quite so perfect unfortunately!

20160306_194828
Pear chocolate tart, out of the fridge (due to the heat) and having a sweat. I would not put it in the fridge normally.

As for the level of difficulty, it is easy to medium, you will need to make the pastry, precook it and then cook it again until set. Serves 8

Ingredients:

For the pastry:

  • 50 g of butter softened
  • 100 g of plain flour
  • some cold water (about 1/4 glass – see recipe)

For the filling:

  • 3 large ripe pear (Williams or Packham variety) cored, peeled and mashed up (use the electric mixer)
  • 2 tablespoons of flour
  • 4 eggs
  • 60 g caster sugar
  • 50 ml of cream

For the chocolate cover:

  • 70 g dark cooking chocolate
  • 40 g butter
Method
  1. Prepare the pastry: in a bowl rub the soft butter and the flour together until all of the butter sticks to the flour. Add water little at the time to obtain an homogenized ball.   Rest for at least half an hour at room temperature.Tip: if your butter is hard (from the fridge), cut the butter in small cubes and let to soften on top of the flour.

    Tip: you can prepare the pastry ahead of time, wrap it and place in the fridge.  Remove from the fridge  1/2 h to an hour before using. 

  2. Preheat oven to 180 º Celsius. Using a rolling pin, roll the pastry on a pastry mat or sheet of baking paper.  Transfer to the dish and trim the edges.  With a fork, make small holes at the bottom of the tart to prevent the formation of bubbles during the blind bake.
    Bake for 15-20 min or until light brown. Remove from he oven.
  3. Prepare the mix by adding to the pear puree, the eggs, sugar, cream and flour. Mix well. Place in the tart leaving 0.5 cm height at the top. Put back into the oven and cook until set. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
  4. Melt the butter and chocolate and spread over the top of the tart.  Leave aside and allow the chocolate topping to set.

Pear and chocolate flan

This pear of chocolate flan is a crowd pleaser.  I made it for morning teas at the office in the past and for desserts: children and adults love it.

In terms of difficulty level, it goes in the super easy basket. I get my children involved in the preparation.  Today, I lost them when it came to put the pieces of pear in the mix, they were too busy leaking off the remaining chocolate from the wooden spoon and empty bowl.

Ingredients
  • 150 g of dark cooking chocolate
  • 90 g of white sugar
  • 50 g of plain flour
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
  • 1/4 L milk
  • a nut of butter for the dish
  • 2 pears
Method
  1. Pre-heat oven at 180°C
  2. Butter a roasting dish (capacity of about 1 litre)
  3. Melt the chocolate.
  4. Add in the sugar, then the egg one at the time.
  5. Add the flour then the cinnamon and milk.
  6. Place the mix in the roasting dish, peel and cut the pears.  You can cut in thin slices or in cubes. Place over the chocolate (they will mostly sink in).
  7. Put in the oven and bake until all set.