Pear And Fig Charlotte Recipes

WHITE CHOCOLATE PEAR AND FIG MORNING BREAD

Steps:

• Warm the milk in a saucepan on low heat to just warm. Stir in the sugar and yeast and set aside until bubbly and foamy, about 5 minutes.
• Whisk together the flour and salt in a large bowl and create a well. Stir in the yeast mixture, and then knead the dough in the bowl until smooth, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the white chocolate chips, figs and pears and knead a bit more to evenly distribute. Place in a greased bowl, cover and set aside to rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Punch down the dough and lightly knead again. Turn into a greased 10-by-5-inch loaf pan. Allow to rise in the pan for 30 minutes more. Bake the loaf in the oven until the internal temperature reads about 190 degrees F, about 45 minute. Allow to cool about 5 minutes. Turn out onto a cooling rack to cool completely. Slice and Serve.

PEAR CHARLOTTE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Put the pear slices in a large saute pan with 2/3 cup sugar, the salt, pear liqueur, and lemon juice. Cook the mixture, stirring occasionally, over medium heat for about 10 minutes, until the pears are soft. Set aside to cool.
• Place the butter, the remaining 1 tablespoon of sugar, and the cinnamon in the bowl of an electric mixer. Using the paddle attachment on medium speed, cream the mixture until it is smooth.
• Butter each piece of brioche with the cinnamon butter. With the long side of the bread closest to you, cut each slice into 3 pieces. Line the sides of the ramekins with the brioche pieces, buttered-side against the ramekin.
• Compactly fill the inside of each ramekin with about 1/4 cup of the pear mixture. Trim off any brioche that sticks up above the ramekin.
• Bake the charlottes for 15 to 20 minutes, until the brioche is toasted.
• Spoon some of the vanilla custard sauce on 4 plates, and unmold the charlottes on top.
• Top each with a dollop of creme fraiche.
• Whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, and salt in a stainless steel mixing bowl until
• creamy. Set aside.
• Put the milk and the vanilla extract or vanilla bean in a heavy-bottomed saucepot. Scald the milk, and slowly whisk it into the egg mixture. Put the bowl over a pot of simmering water and cook the custard, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, for about 5 minutes, until it begins to thicken. It should coat the back of the wooden spoon. Do not let it boil.
• Cool the custard sauce over an ice bath. Strain and refrigerate until ready to use. Custard sauce will keep for 2 days in the refrigerator.

PEAR-FIG SALAD

Steps:

• Combine romaine lettuce, figs, pear, pecans, Gruyere cheese, and onion in a large bowl. Drizzle evenly with olive oil and vinegar. Season with salt and pepper. Toss lightly and serve.

PEAR AND FIG CHARLOTTE

Steps:

• Make the fruit mixture: Drain the pears. Separate 7 ounces, about 4 pear halves, into a small bowl, and set aside for Poire Williams cream; place remaining pears in a large bowl (a deep bowl is best).
• Bring water, sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla bean pulp to a boil in a medium saucepan or the microwave. Remove syrup from heat, and pour it over pears in large bowl. Press a piece of waxed paper against pears to submerge them; if the paper alone isn't enough to submerge pears in syrup, place a plate on top of the waxed paper. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
• Cut figs into small cubes (about 1/4 inch on a side), and put them in a small saucepan. Cover with water, and bring just to a boil. Transfer figs and water to a container, cover, and refrigerate overnight.
• Make the soaking syrup: Bring water and sugar to a boil in a small saucepan or the microwave. Remove from heat, and when the syrup is cool, stir in Poire Williams.
• Make the cake: If using the Ladyfinger Batter, follow the recipe, piping the batter into two 9-inch disks and two 8-inch bands of 4-inch-long ladyfingers, baking, and cooling.
• Make the Poire Williams cream filling: Puree reserved 7 ounces drained pears in a blender or food processor; set aside. Fill a large bowl with ice cubes and have at the ready a smaller bowl and a fine-mesh strainer.
• Bring milk to a boil. Meanwhile, whisk sugar and yolks together in a heavy-bottomed 2-quart saucepan. Whisking without stopping, drizzle in about one-third of the boiling milk. Once yolks are acclimated to heat, whisk in the rest of the milk in a slow, steady stream. Place saucepan over medium heat, and, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon or spatula, cook cream filling until it reaches 180 degrees, as measured on an instant-read thermometer, less than 5 minutes. (Alternatively, to check if cream has cooked long enough, stir the cream filling, and then draw your finger down the spatula or the bowl of the wooden spoon; if the cream doesn't run into the track you've created, it's done.) The cream filling will not thicken much. Immediately remove saucepan from heat, and allow cream filling to rest for 2 minutes. Strain into the small reserved bowl, and stir in Poire Williams.
• Sprinkle gelatin over water, and allow it to rest until softened. Heat in the microwave oven for about 15 seconds, or cook over low heat, until gelatin dissolves. Stir gelatin into cream filling, and then gently stir in reserved pureed pears. Set the bowl in the ice bath, adding cold water to the ice cubes, and, stirring from time to time, cool cream filling to about 70 degrees.
• To finish the filling, whip heavy cream until it holds medium, firm peaks, and fold it gently into the cream filling with a rubber spatula. The filling is now ready and should be used immediately.
• To finish the fruit mixture, remove and drain 3 of the remaining pears; pat them dry between paper towels, and cut them into cubes, about 1/2 inch on a side. Drain and pat dry the cubed figs. Combine fruits together.
• Place a piece of parchment paper on a cardboard cake round, and center an 8 3/4-inch-by-22-cm dessert ring on the paper; butter the inside of the ring. Cut the bands of ladyfingers lengthwise in half, and fit the halves around the interior of the ring, making certain that the biscuits' flat side faces in; you'll have a piece of band left over. Fit a ladyfinger disk into the bottom to form a base. (If you are using store-bought ladyfingers, cut the biscuits as necessary to form a band and base.) Brush the ladyfinger disk and band with the soaking syrup, using enough syrup to thoroughly moisten the cake.
• Spoon enough cream filling into the biscuit-lined ring to form a layer that comes about halfway up the ladyfinger band, spreading it evenly with a spatula. Cover with the cubed fruit and then another layer of filling, this time coming almost to the top of the ring, and again using the spatula to get an even layer. Top with the second ladyfinger disk, and moisten disk with some soaking syrup (you may have soaking syrup left over). Cover the disk with a thin layer of filling (you may also have filling left over -- it makes a fine dessert on its own or served with cookies), and set the cake into the refrigerator to chill for 2 hours. (At this point, the cake, covered airtight, can be frozen for up to 2 weeks.)
• To finish: Remove the dessert ring, but keep the cake on the cardboard round for maneuverability.
• Slice the remaining pears from the blossom to stem end, and arrange in overlapping concentric circles over the top of the cake. If using fresh figs, slice them from blossom to stem end and slip into the arrangement. Serve the cake now or keep it in the refrigerator, loosely covered, until ready to serve.

PEAR AND RAISIN CHARLOTTE

Steps:

• Use some of the softened butter to lightly coat a five- to six-cup charlotte mold, souffle dish or deep round baking dish. Put the raisins in a dish and add the rum.
• Melt the remaining softened butter in a large, heavy skillet. Add the pears and sugar and cook over medium-high heat for about 10 minutes, until the pears have softened almost to a puree and most of the liquid has evaporated.
• Stir in vanilla, the raisins and rum. Continue cooking over low heat another 10 minutes or so, until the mixture forms a thick puree. Adjust sweetening to taste. Remove from heat.
• Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cut eight of the bread slices in half to form rectangles and the rest in half diagonally. Heat some of the clarified butter in a skillet and saute the pieces of bread until they are golden brown on one side only, adding more butter as needed.
• Fit the triangles, sauteed side down, in the bottom of the baking dish so they fit exactly. Trim away any excess and reserve. Arrange the rectangles, sauteed side out, around the sides of the dish, overlapping slightly. Fill the center with the pear mixture and, if necessary, trim the bread rectangles to be level with the fruit. Scatter all trimmings on top.
• Cover the top with foil and bake about 30 minutes. Remove and allow to cool for an hour. Unmold the charlotte. Serve with whipped cream, creme fraiche or custard sauce.

LADYFINGERS FOR PEAR AND FIG CHARLOTTE

Steps:

• In an impeccably clean, dry mixer bowl with a clean, dry whisk attachment in place, whip egg whites on high speed until they turn opaque and form soft peaks. Still whipping on high, gradually add 2/3 cup sugar. Continue beating until whites are glossy and hold very firm peaks. It's important that the whites develop into a really firm meringue as this is what will allow the batter to rest on the counter for 15 minutes and still maintain its shape. Set aside.
• In another bowl, whisk together yolks and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar until well blended, about 1 to 2 minutes. Working with a rubber spatula, gently fold the yolk mixture into the beaten whites. Then fold in flour, sifting flour over mixture in a few additions and incorporating it gingerly. (No matter how delicately you fold in the flour, the batter will deflate. Don't worry, but do be gentle.) The batter is now ready to be piped and baked according to your recipe's particular instructions.
• To pipe and bake: Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Fit a large pastry bag with a plain 1/2-inch tip, and set aside until needed. Cut two pieces of parchment paper to fit two large baking sheets. On each sheet of paper, draw a 9-inch circle and a band that's 8 inches long and 4 inches wide. Turn the sheets of paper over, and place each piece of parchment on a baking sheet. (If you can't see the outlines clearly now that the paper is flipped over, darken the pencil lines.)
• Gently spoon a little more than half the batter into the pastry bag. Position a baking sheet so the top and bottom lines for the 8-inch-long band run from your left to your right. Start making a ladyfinger band by piping plump logs of batter from top to bottom within the pencil lines. Pipe one ladyfinger log right next to the last one -- they'll touch, and they're supposed to. Keeping firm and steady pressure on the pastry bag, you should end up with ladyfingers that are about 1 inch wide and about 2/3 to 3/4 inch high. When you've piped the full 8-inch band, dust it lightly with confectioners' sugar. Pipe the second band in the same fashion, and then dust with confectioners' sugar, too. Refill the bag when you run out of batter. (The bands will probably take about 2/3 of the batter.) Next, pipe the discs, keeping in mind that the discs should be only about half as high as the plump ladyfinger bands, so you can exert less pressure on the pastry bag. For each disc, begin piping the batter at the center of the circle. Work your way in a spiral to the penciled edge, trying to have each coil of batter touch the preceding coil. If you have any holes, you can run an offset spatula very lightly over the discs to fill in the spaces. Let the piped batter rest on the counter for 15 minutes, during which time the confectioners' sugar will pearl or form beads.
• Give the bands a second light dusting of confectioners' sugar (there's no need to sugar the discs), and slip the baking sheets into the oven. Use the handle of a wooden spoon to keep the oven door slightly ajar. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, just until the discs and bands are very lightly golden -- you don't want the cake to take on much color. Slide the parchment off the baking sheets, and transfer the cakes, on their parchment sheets, to racks. Allow the cakes to cool to room temperature.
• When the cakes are cool, run an offset spatula under the discs and bands to loosen them from the paper. If you want individual biscuits, separate the cookies with a sharp knife or pizza cutter. If you want a decorative ladyfinger band that can be wrapped around cakes or charlottes, keep the cookies intact but cut the band in half lengthwise, or according to the measurements given in the specific recipe.

PEAR, BLUE CHEESE, AND FIG NAPOLEONS

Steps:

• Cut each pear lengthwise into 10 (1/8- to 1/4-inch-thick) slices (5 from one side, then 5 more from the opposite side), avoiding core and discarding rounded outermost slices.
• Layer 4 pear slices with cheese and fig on each of 4 plates, beginning with largest pear slices, and ending with smallest.
• Sprinkle any remaining cheese and fig around napoleons.

FIG AND PEAR CRUMBLE

Steps:

• Remove the stems from the figs; quarter the figs. Place figs in a small bowl; add hot water to cover. Let stand 20 minutes; drain and set aside.
• Place the pear wedges in a large bowl. Sprinkle with 1/3 cup sugar, melted butter, 1 tbsp flour, salt, and 1/4 tsp cinnamon; toss well.
• Spoon the pear mixture into a buttered 8 inch square baking dish; arrange the figs on top of the pear mixture. Set aside.
• Combine 1 cup flour, brown sugar, 1/4 cup sugar, and 1/4 tsp cinnamon in a medium bowl; stir well. Cut in 1/3 cup butter with a pastry blender until the mixture is crumbly; sprinkle over the figs and pears.
• Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream.