Creme Brulee with Pears

Creme brulee alle pere

Creme Brulee with Pears

Creme brulee with pears is a reinterpretation of the classic French dessert. And the fruit adds surprising bite and freshness to the smooth cream.

The main difference between creme brulee and panna cotta lies in the welding of the sugar lid used to cover the silky white cream. Both desserts can be found in a great many incarnations all over Italy, where professional cooks experiment with adding flavours such as gorgonzola, rosemary and candied oranges. This creme brulee with pears inspired by an old recipe in La Repubblica is conservative in comparison, but it puts a wonderful and still slightly surprising end to the meal.

Ingredients
2 pears
1/2 lemon
2 tbsp sugar
300 ml double cream
150 ml full milk
40 g sugar
1 vanilla pod
5 egg yolks

Preparation
Peel and core the pears.
Boil them in a syrup of 100 ml, 1/2 a lemon and 2 tbsp sugar for about 10 minutes.
Leave the pears to cool in the liquid.
Use a knife to split the vanilla pod open.
Bring double cream, milk, sugar and vanilla pod to the boil and let i bubble for a couple of minutes.
Whisk the egg yolks with a little of the boiling cream and add more gradually.
Scrape the vanilla seeds out of the pod and add them to the cream.
Cut the pears in small pieces and fill them into 4 ramekins.
Cover with the egg cream and bake in a hot water bath at 150 C / 300 F for 40 minutes until the cream has set.
Place the creme brulee with pears in the fridge overnight.
Sprinkle each ramekin with sugar and weld the sugar with a creme brulee gas burner to make a glassy caramel lid. (- an oven grill can be used instead if you (like me) don’t have the gas burner). Watch the process carefully to prevent the sugar from blackening.