Puff Pastry Wrapped Pears

A few years ago, I watched an episode of the Great British Bake Off in which the technical challenge was pastry wrapped pears (mini pear pies) and I remember how delicious they looked. I also remember watching one of the contestants completely mess up the challenge. His pears collapsed which almost got him kicked out of the competition and I thought to myself "they don't look so hard to make, how did he mess up so bad?". Like I said, this was a few years ago so I wasn't too sure how they were made but I thought I'd give it a go. I am most definitely not a great pastry chef, I actually don't like spending that much time in the kitchen. However since living alone and finally figuring out how my oven works, I have dedicated some time to baking. These puff pastry covered pears were extremely fun to make and so simple (well my way is!). This was the first time and I am pretty happy with how they turned out. I will try again in the future and hopefully they'll look even better. If you have friends over and want to show off your cooking skills with a delicious dessert, I think this recipe is great!

What You'll Need:

- 3 small pears

- 2 cups of sugar (I used cane sugar)

- 1 cup of honey

- puff pastry 

- cinnamon (optional)

How to do it:

1. Start off by peeling your pears. Core them from the bottom. You may cut off a bit of the pear at the bottom in order to level it.

2. In a casserole, add 4 cups of water or enough to cover your pears and boil. Then add the sugar and the honey (and cinnamon) and stir until they have melted. Reduce heat and add in your pears to poach. This should take between 15 and 20 mins depending on your pear. Let it simmer until the pears are soft.

3. Remove pears from the casserole and put the honey and sugar liquid aside. The pears should be very sticky and hot. Let them cool down.

4. Preheat your oven to 200C. Meanwhile cut your puff pastry into long strips (about 8mm wide) using a sharp knife. You will need quite a few strips. I used 3 strips per pear. Wrap the strips around the pears starting from the bottom and continue towards the top. This is the part that I liked the least. I am not the most patient person in the world and wrapping these pears just got on my nerves. 

4. Place in the oven on a baking sheet and bake for about 25 to 30 minutes. Serve warm and drizzle with the honey sugar syrup that you put aside earlier on. 

Enjoy!