The pear is an underappreciated fruit, especially in
baking. Pears are cheap, sweet and
abundant in the late fall and early winter. These desserts would be perfect for a party—they are
handheld but more substantial than a cookie. The crust is slightly sweet and fortified with almond paste,
which is a little pricey but completely worth it.
The crust is brought together similarly to pie crust, then
set to chill. A cream cheese
and brown sugar mixture is then plopped on top and then a quarter pear. 20 minutes in the oven, and you have a very special
Christmas dessert.
Pear, Cheese and Almond Mini Galettes
Makes 20
For the crust
2 cups all purpose flour
4 oz chilled almond paste (not almond meal)
1 stick very cold butter cut into cubes
pinch salt
3 tbsp sugar
¼ cup plus a few tbsp ice water as needed
Cream cheese mixture
8 oz cream cheese
¼ cup brown sugar
zest of one lemon
½ tsp almond extract
5 small pears or 4 medium pears, peeled, cored. The pears should be slightly under-ripe
but still juicy.
juice of ½ lemon
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp flour
Finishing sugar
In a mixing bowl combine butter, flour, almond paste, salt
and sugar with a pastry cutter until well blended and the butter is in small
pea-sized pieces. Carefully with
your fingers, blend the mixture together until it begins to combine. Add the ice water 1 tbsp at a time and
combine by hand until the mixture comes together easily in your hands. Without working the dough too much,
bring the dough into a ball and divide in two and cover in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Soften the cream cheese and whisk in the brown sugar, lemon
zest and almond extract. Put
aside.
Peel and core the pears. Cut lengthwise and then then again widthwise into quarters. If you have larger pears, then slice lengthwise and divide
the width into thirds. You want
pear sizes that can fit into each small galette. Put the sugar, flour, pears and lemon juice in a bowl.
Preheat the oven to 350. Take the dough out of the freezer. On a heavily floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/8 inch
thick. I didn’t have a 4”
diameter cutter so I used a large wine glass. Use whatever you have—a small bowl, or just cut them with a
knife. They are free-form so they
don’t have to be perfect. After
you have cut out your crust, place ½ tbsp of the cheese mixture and then a pear
slice on top. Crimp the edges to
fold around the pear. Sprinkle a
heavy dose of finishing sugar (plain sugar will work just fine) and place on a
baking sheet covered in parchment paper.
Bake for 20 minutes or until the bottoms are slightly brown and the
crust has set. Allow to cool and
enjoy!