Spiced Pear Napoleons with Cinnamon Fudge Sauce

Makes 8 Napoleons


Ingredients

4 pears, Bartlett or D’Anjou
1 recipe Poaching Liquid (below)
1 recipe Mascarpone Pastry Crème (below)
8 pieces of homemade or frozen puff pastry cut to 2.5” by 4.5”

1 recipe Fudge Sauce (below)

Method

1. Prepare poaching liquid and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer.
2. While the poaching liquid is coming to a boil cut each pear in half. Remove the center of each half with a melon baller. Cut out stem. Peel each pear half. Poach pears for 5 minutes in simmering poaching liquid. Pears should be tender but not lose their shape. Set pot aside allowing pear halves to sit in poaching liquid until ready to use.
3. Place puff pastry rectangles on a baking sheet. Poke multiple holes in the pastry with a fork. Bake according to package directions or until puffed and golden brown (about 20 minutes at 375 degrees). Let cool on racks.
4. When pastry is cool, cut each piece horizontally through the middle to make 8 puff pastry sandwiches. Working with the bottom half of each sandwich, divide pastry crème equally among the Napoleons. Remove pear halves from poaching syrup. Cut each half lengthwise into quarters, cutting at an angle to form equal wedges. Place four wedges on each Napoleon. Place top halves of sandwich on top of each Napoleon.
5. Drizzle each Napoleon generously with fudge sauce.


Poaching Liquid
Ingredients
6C water
½ t nutmeg
½ t cloves
½ t ground cardamom
1 t cinnamon
½ t ginger
¾ c granulated sugar
½ a lemon cut into quarters


Method

Combine all ingredients in a stock pot squeezing lemons before adding to the liquid. Stir to dissolve sugar. Bring liquid to a boil. Reduce to a simmer.


Mascarpone Pastry Crème

Ingredients
8oz Mascarpone cheese
1 C Milk
1 egg
1 egg yolk
6 T sugar divided in two
1 ¼ T cornstarch

Method


1. Wisk together eggs, cornstarch and half the sugar to form a paste.
2. Put milk and second half of sugar in a medium sauce pan. Heat to scalding.
3. Slowly, while whisking eggs constantly, add the milk mixture into the eggs. When half the milk has been incorporated, reverse the process by adding the egg mixture back into the milk whisking the milk constantly.
4. Return pot to stove. Stir constantly while bringing to a boil. Pastry crème will thicken significantly. Just when it reaches a boil and is very thick remove from heat.
5. In a separate bowl whisk mascarpone until it is soft. Add a little of the pastry crème to the bowl and whisk thoroughly until all lumps are gone. Whisk in the rest of the pastry crème. Place mixture in a shallow baking dish and cover the surface with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Cinnamon Fudge Sauce

Ingredients

4 oz good quality 60 % chocolate cut into small pieces
½ C of heavy cream
2T light corn syrup
½ t ground cinnamon

Method

1. Heat the milk and corn syrup on the stove to scalding
2. Pour over the chocolate. Let sit for 30 seconds or so. Using a wisk slowly mix the cream into the chocolate starting with small circles at the center and moving out as chocolate becomes incorporated. Mix in cinnamon.
3. Keep the chocolate sauce warm. If it becomes hard you can reheat is in a sauce pan over a low flame or in the microwave.