Pear and manuka honey tart
- Dessert
- Medium
- 8
- 2 hours
PT2H
These dainty little tarts contain a whole host of elements offering a contrast in textures. Spheres of poached pear sit on a base of chocolate and Manuka honey cremeaux around a scoop of pear sorbet. There's a honeycomb tuile on top for crunch, extra white chocolate for sweet richness and small sorrel leaves for freshness. A stunning dessert which, if you make the elements in advance, can be pulled off at home relatively stress-free.
Ingredients
Poached pear
- 6 pears , Passe Crassane variety, or more if they're small
- 500g of water
- 100g of sugar
- 1 vanilla pod
- 150g of Manuka honey
- 1/2 orange , zest only
Pear Sorbet
- 30g of stock syrup
- 50g of liquid glucose
- 15g of ProCrema
Honey Cremeaux
- 100g of whole milk
- 100g of double cream
- 50g of Manuka honey
- 1 gelatine leaf, soaked in cold water for 10 minutes
- 10g of sugar
- 30g of egg yolk
- 75g of dark chocolate
- 25g of milk chocolate
Pastry
- 250g of plain flour
- 100g of unsalted butter
- 100g of icing sugar
- 1 egg
Honeycomb Tuile
- 75g of Manuka honey
- 140g of liquid glucose
- 400g of sugar
- 20g of bicarbonate of soda
To serve
- lemon sorrel , or wood sorrel
- white chocolate , tempered into curls and/or stamped into discs
Equipment
- Hand blender
- Pacojet or ice cream maker
- 8cm fluted tart tins (8)
- Parisian scoop / melon baller
- Thermometer
- Food processor
Method
1
Begin a day in advance by poaching the pears, as you use these for the pear garnish and pear puree to make the sorbet. Bring the water, sugar, vanilla, honey and orange zest to the boil then add the pears and poach for 10-12 minutes, depending on the ripeness of the pears. Leave to cool in the liquid. Once cold, use a melon baller to cut out approximately 32 balls, then set these aside in the fridge
2
With the remaining pears, remove the cores, then blend until smooth. Pass through a fine sieve and reserve the puree for the sorbet. You'll need 400g of puree in total
3
To make the sorbet, bring all the ingredients (including the pear puree) to the boil then blend for 5 minutes using a stick blender. Leave to cool and freeze in Pacojet containers. Churn before serving. Alternatively, use an ice cream machine to churn and reserve in the fridge until needed
4
Make the honey cremeaux the day before too. Whisk the honey, sugar and egg yolk together until thick and pale. Gently heat the milk and cream together, then pour over the egg mixture. Whisk together then transfer back to the pan over a low heat and stir until thickened. Drain the gelatine leaf and stir it into the mixture until dissolved
5
Melt the dark and milk chocolate together then stir into the custard. Transfer to a piping bag and place in the fridge to set overnight
6
You can make the pastry the day before or on the day of serving, but bear in mind it needs 1 hour to rest. Cream the butter and icing sugar together then sift in the flour and mix. Stir in the eggs to form a dough. Divide the dough into 8 balls and roll slightly into thick discs. Wrap each one in clingfilm and leave to rest in the fridge for 1 hour
7
Preheat an oven to 160°C/gas mark 3. Roll the pastry out thin (about 2mm) and line the 8cm fluted tart cases. Blind-bake for 12 minutes, then set aside. Keep the oven on
8
To make the honeycomb tuile, heat the honey, glucose and sugar in a pan to 130°C, then remove from the heat and leave to rest for 5 minutes. Whisk in the bicarbonate of soda to make honeycomb and pour out onto a tray to set
9
Once set, blitz to a powder. Sieve onto a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper and melt in the oven for 3 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 2 minutes. Pull the honeycomb mixture into thin shards and store in an airtight container
10
To serve, pipe the cremeaux into each tart case. Place a rocher of sorbet in the centre and arrange the poached pear balls around it. Finish with the honeycomb tuiles, white chocolate decorations and sorrel leaves
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Pear and manuka honey tart
