I really wish I had a magic wand that would easily change things!. Hmmm guess that’s too much to ask for. All I need is some energy to charge me up. I just recovered from Bronchitis and now little “A” is down with cold and fever. Poor thing is so tired and wants me next to her always. Having a sick child at home can be overwhelming at times.

It has been a crazy week so far. Cooking/Baking relieves my stress as always. More often than not, my way of taking a break is to Bake:). As weird as it sounds,it totally works for me.I’ve been wanting to blog but had nothing concrete in my mind. There were some Pears and Bing cherries that needed attention. And I started with the Pear before they see off their better days. I had to decide between Clafoutis or Croustade. As a family we love anything crunchy and obviously the Croustade became the automatic choice. I did mention about the difference between a Croustade,Crumble and cobbler in my post.

I believe “king of dates” and “diamond of dates” are two nicknames for the medjool date. The dates are paired with pears and spices in a rustic, comforting dessert with an exotic flare.

PEAR AND MEDJOOL DATES CROUSTADE

Crust Ingredients:

1 ½ cups all purpose flour
½ cup granulated sugar( the recipe calls for powdered sugar)
1/3 cup cornmeal
10 tablespoons cold butter( cut into cubes)
1 chilled large egg,divided

Filling:

3 large Anjou Pears, peeled,cored each cut into 8 wedges
3 tablespoon sugar
1 tablsepoon all purpose flour
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
7 large medjool dates, pitted and torn into strips
1 ½ teaspoon turbinado sugar

CRUST: Blend flour,sugar,cornmeal and salt in a processor. Add butter,using on/off turns process until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. Add all but 2 tablespoon of butter( reserved for glaze),using on/offs turns,process until moist clumps form. Gather dough into a ball,flatten into a disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.

FILLING: Preheat oven to 375F. Toss pear wedges with sugar,flour,cinnamon and ginger in a large bowl.Roll out the disc in between two parchment which is lightly floured to form a 14 inch round.Slide crust into a baking sheet,remove the top layer of parchment. Arrange 2/3 of pear mixture over crust,leaving about 2 inch plain border. Arrange date strips amongst pears. Top with remaining pear slices. Using parchment as aid,fold edges of crust up over pear mixture,creating border. Brush crust edge with some of remaining egg and sprinkle crust with raw sugar.

Bake until crust is golden brown and filling bubbles thickly in center,about 45 minutes to an hour. Cool until warm.

The filling was a little too sweet for me. The dates added to the extra sweet I guess. I would probably reduce the sugar by half the next time.

The crust was just perfect and the pear and dates paired together very well.

Nina
Bon Appetit!

Note: The above recipe was adapted from Bon Apetit Desserts by Barbara Fairchild

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