Pear, cinnamon biscuit, caramel and vanilla ice cream

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Xavier Boyer shares a perfect autumnal dessert, the sweet poached pear is delicious with the spiced biscuit and rich caramel sauce. The ice cream may make more than you need for this recipe, a little leftover ice cream to stash in the freezer is no bad thing.

First published in 2015

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Cinnamon biscuit

Caramel

  • 150g of sugar
  • 300ml of cream
  • 145g of butter
  • 1 vanilla pod

Poached pear

Vanilla ice cream

  • 350ml of milk
  • 350ml of cream
  • 6 vanilla pods, seeds and pod
  • 75ml of rum
  • 215g of egg
  • 50g of egg yolk
  • 150g of sugar

Equipment

  • Sugar thermometer
  • 5cm pastry cutter
  • Ice cream maker

Method

1
To make the cinnamon biscuit, melt the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat and place in a mixing bowl. Add the icing sugar and the eggs and mix to combine
2
Add the remaining ingredients, bring together to make a dough and place in the fridge for 2 hours to firm up
3
Preheat the oven to 175°C/gas mark 4. On a lightly flourly work surface, roll the dough out to a thickness of 1.5cm and transfer to a non-stick baking mat
4
Cook the sheet of dough in the oven for 10 minutes, then remove from the oven and cut out into individual rounds with a 5cm pastry cutter. Return the biscuits to the oven for another 10 minutes until golden brown
5
To make the caramel, place the sugar in a heavy-based pan and heat until it reaches 175°C on a sugar thermometer. Whisk in the cream and remove from the heat. Transfer to a bowl and when the mix has cooled to 60°C, whisk in the butter and set aside
  • 150g of sugar
  • 300ml of cream
  • 145g of butter
6
Clean and peel the pears. Mix together the remaining ingredients for poaching the pears, add to a pan and bring to the boil. Pour the mixture over the pears and set aside in the fridge for 2 hours. After this time, transfer everything to a saucepan and bring to a simmer, then poach the pears for 10-15 minutes until soft. Set aside to cool in the syrup
7
To make the ice cream, add the milk, cream, vanilla and rum to a saucepan, bring to the boil then remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly
  • 350ml of milk
  • 350ml of cream
  • 6 vanilla pods, seeds scraped
  • 75ml of rum
8
Meanwhile, whisk together the eggs and sugar until pale and smooth
9
Pour 1/3 of the milk mixture onto the eggs and sugar and whisk to combine. Return to the pan, add the remaining 2/3 of milk mixture and gradually cook until it reaches 83°C
10
Cool the ice cream base in a bowl over an ice bath, then churn in an ice cream machine
11
To plate, place a biscuit on the centre of each plate and pour the caramel around. Place a pear on top of the biscuit and serve with the ice cream on the side
First published in 2015
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Xavier Boyer worked closely with Joël Robuchon to make the L’Atelier restaurants a success. His style showcases fresh, seasonal, clean flavours, beautiful textures and his playful creativity.

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