Pear Panda Puffs

After the Mediterranean themed foodie fest from last month, I ended up with leftover phyllo pastry sheets. What is a baker to do? Create a new recipe, of course. And that is exactly what I did with these little bundles. 

I call them Panda Puffs due to their adorable size, tasty filling, and the way they leave a smile on your face when you are finished. Finger licking goodness right here. 

It's insane how easy it was to make these. After doing one batch and realizing this, I went back to the oven and made a second batch for my pals (primarily because I had eaten my way through the first one). 

My changes to the original recipe include adding more spices for a fuller flavor and marinating the pears in Frangelico (a favorite of mine). I even made a little pear Frangelico cocktail with the leftover marinade (uber tasty). 

Don't forget to let the phyllo sheets thaw out overnight in the fridge. It makes them much easier to work with. Enjoy! 


Pear Panda Puffs 
Adapted from: Spiced Pear Phyllo Bundles 

• 16 sheets frozen phyllo pastry, thawed overnight in the fridge 
• 3/4 c melted butter
• 1/2 c sugar + more for sprinkling over the top
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg (freshly grated is best)
• 1/4 tsp ginger 
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• 4 large pears, cored, sliced & marinated for at least 1 hour in Frangelico 
• 1 egg + 2 tsp water (beaten together for eggwash)

Core and slice pears, then marinate them in a small bath of Frangelico for at least an hour. The longer the better!

Mix together spices and 1/2 cup sugar, then set aside.

Brush a sheet of phyllo pastry with butter and sprinkle the entire surface with about 1 tsp sugar. Top with a second sheet of phyllo pastry. Brush half this sheet with butter and sprinkle with about ½ tsp sugar. Fold the sheet in half to make about a 9x12 inch rectangle which will now have 4 layers of phyllo pastry. Place a pear half in the center of the shorter side of the rectangle and spoon about 2 tsp of the sugar and spice mixture over the pear half. Fold the two longest sides of the pastry to meet at the center of the sheet covering the pear half. Roll up the pear in the phyllo, leaving the seam on the bottom of the pastry covered pear.

Repeat for the other pear halves.

Brush the tops of the pastries with the egg wash and sprinkle the tops with turbinado sugar if desired.

Place the pastries, seam side down on a parchment covered cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes until the pastry is evenly golden brown. Makes around 8 bundles. 

Creamy Pear Pie

Pears. One of the quintessential late summer, early fall fruits. When the pears start dropping, you know harvest is upon us.

Did you know that China, the US, and Italy produce the most pears of any nations in the world? In the US we tend to eat them raw, however elsewhere folks have come up with some tasty alternatives. For instance, a traditional plate of poached or baked pears. Or maybe a dish of crostini with feta and pear-strawberry salsa. Or even some chickpea curry with pears. Seriously, you can't go wrong with pears!

With all of this in mind, I proposed a challenge for myself of late - to make a pear pie that departed from the norm. Sleeves rolled up, goal in mind, I researched a number of pear pies until I settled upon this one as my starting point.

The big changes included using my favorite pre-made vegan pie crust in place of something homemade (pandas have so little time these days), swapping out the sour cream for vanilla non-fat yogurt, adding almond extract, and beefing up the flavor of the topping by adding a combo of cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. 

How many pieces of this beautiful pie do you think I consumed? If you aren't to at least five in your guess, keep trying. Five slices is when I stopped counting. Keeping my hands off of this delicious foodgasm was impossible! In the end I finally started handing out slices to anyone who would take them, just so that I wouldn't finish the pie in one sitting. I call it a pie crush, and this is my current one! Enjoy!


Creamy Pear Pie
Adapted From: Pear Sour Cream Pie 

Pie

• 1 (9 inch) pie crust pastry
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 cup vanilla non-fat yogurt
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 4 large pears - peeled, cored and sliced

Topping

• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 5 tbsp butter, melted
• 2/3 cup rolled oats
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ginger 

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Take pre-made pastry out of the freezer. 

Combine 1/2 cup sugar, sour cream, 1/4 cup flour, egg, vanilla, and salt in a bowl until blended. Fold in the pears. Pour the mixture into the pie plate and bake the pie for 15 minutes.

While the pie is baking, prepare the topping: mix the 2/3 cup flour, 1/3 cup sugar, spices, melted butter, and rolled oats together in a bowl.

Remove the pie from the oven and sprinkle with the crumble topping. Return the pie to the oven and bake until the filling is set and the crust is brown, about 20 minutes more. Allow to cool and set before serving.

Spiced Pear Banana Bread

Last weekend I escaped. No, not from jail. From the monotony of my daily life. And headed for the coast.

Ah yes, the Oregon coast. How I adore thee!

Windy beaches free of crowds, an amazing local aquarium, local breweries - what's not to like?

Of course I had to bring some baked goods for the road. The pear tree out back finally got the message this year and has been producing like crazy! Even after gifting away 10 lbs. of pears, I still found myself with an abundance to use up and fast. So as a treat to myself, I brought along a freshly baked loaf of Spiced Pear Banana Bread.

Try not to drool on the keyboard, which you would be doing if computers had the ability to release scents (omg, did this recipe smell great during the baking process).

Using the pears from the yard, the eggs from our feathered ladies, and a few bananas I had stowed away in the freezer, this was a fairly easy recipe. I adapted it from Banana Bread Recipes, using shredded pears in place of mashed ones and adding almond extract (my secret weapon).

It did brown a bit around the edges, but made for some amazing flavor. This recipe is definitely a keeper! Enjoy!

Spiced Pear Banana Bread
Adapted from: Banana Bread Recipes

• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 2 mashed bananas
• 2 cups shredded pears
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature 
• 1/4 cup non-fat vanilla yogurt
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract 
• 1/2 tsp almond extract 

Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease a loaf pan and coat with flour to prevent sticking.

In a medium mixing bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.

In another mixing bowl, cream together the white sugar, brown sugar and butter. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and make sure everything is well incorporated. 

Mash the bananas in another bowl. Shred the pears into another small bowl. 

Stir the banana into the sugar and butter mixture. Then add in the eggs, vanilla and almond extracts, stirring well. Next stir in the yogurt, again mixing well. And finally add the shredded pears. 

Slowly pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture, stirring constantly. Mix really throughly until everything is perfectly blended together.

Spoon the mixture into your prepared loaf pan. You can place a few slices of pear on top and sprinkle with a little brown sugar for decoration if you desire.

Place the loaf pan in the center of preheated oven and bake on 350F for 1 hour to an 1 hour 20 mins. Cooking times may vary, so check if the bread is done by inserting a toothpick or knife into the middle of the loaf. As soon as that toothpick comes out clean, take the loaf out! You don't want to overcook it.  

Allow the banana bread to cool in the loaf pan for about 10-20 minutes. The cooling is important because the loaf will solidify fully as it cools. Then remove it from the pan and let stand for another 20 minutes or so until it has cooled. Slice and enjoy! 

Pear Berry Crisp

Not everything that comes out of my kitchen is a well formulated recipe. Some days, a craving takes me and the next thing I know I am elbow deep into a dish without realizing it. This happened to me a few weeks back as I found myself with an abundance of pears from the yard, berries from the blackberry brambles, and a sweet tooth to boot.

By and large, making a crisp is easy. Insanely easy. Cut up some fresh fruit. Line the bottom of a baking dish with it. Throw some oats and spices on top. Bake until bubbly. Easy as pie...err, crisp I mean.

Let's call this my hodgepodge recipe. I have been making crisps for so many years, I no longer have a true recipe. However, like all good chefs I had to start somewhere so I listed one below for your pleasure. Enjoy!

Pear Berry Crisp

Filling

• 3-4 large pears, cored and sliced
• 1 cup berries of your selection, frozen or fresh
• 1/4 cup brown sugar 
• 1 tbsp cornstarch 
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon 
• 1 tbsp lemon juice

Topping

• 1/2 cup rolled oats 
• 1/4 cup flour
• 3-4 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into small pieces 
• 1/3 cup brown sugar 
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F. Use a 8'x8' square baking dish or similar.

Toss the pears with the lemon juice. Next add berries, brown sugar, cornstarch, vanilla, and cinnamon. Mix until everything is thoroughly coated.

Transfer the mixture to the baking dish, lining the bottom of the pan in one even layer.

For the topping - two methods are available. First option is to use a food processor to pulse together all of the topping ingredients. Second option is to mix the oats, flour, brown sugar, and spices together for the topping, then sprinkle evenly over the fruit, followed by sprinkling the butter pieces over the top. Either method works, the first simply incorporates the ingredients better. This time around I used the second method (call it laziness and less to clean).

Bake the crisp for about 35-40 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the pears are tender. The crisp should be nice and bubbly at this point. Let things cool a bit before serving. Vanilla yogurt tastes amazing on top of a warm plate of this!