Seckel Pears with Cinnamon Pastry Crumbs
- 12 tablespoons (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, barely softened
- ½ cup confectioner’s sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups (6.75 ounces) all-purpose flour
- Kosher salt
- 1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup pear brandy
- 6 Seckel pears, peeled except for the top ½”, stems intact
- vanilla ice cream
- With a stand mixer or handheld mixer, beat the butter and confectioner’s sugar until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the vanilla, all-purpose flour, ¾ teaspoon Kosher salt and cinnamon, and beat for about 20 more seconds, until the flour is incorporated. Form the dough into two balls, flatten in to a disc, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour; overnight is perfectly fine.
- While the dough is chilling, bring 1 3/4 cups of water, the granulated sugar and the pear brandy to a simmer in a small saucepan. Add the pears and simmer until tender, about 30 minutes. Remove the pears with a slotted spoon, and then continue to simmer the poaching liquid until it is a dark brown caramel. Using a spoon, drizzle the caramel in thin lines on parchment paper or a silicone mat and allow to cool. (You don’t need all of it, just 20 lines or so).
- Preheat the oven to 375. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone pat. Roll out one of the discs of dough on a lightly floured board to about 1/8” thick. Transfer to the baking sheet and bake until golden brown, about 11 minutes. Remove and allow to cool, then crumble to a fairly fine crumb texture. (Save the remaining dough for another purpose.)
- To serve, place about 2 tablespoons of the crumbs in a pile on each serving plate. Make a small hollow in the middle and rest a pear in that hollow. Put a small scoop of vanilla ice cream on each plate and garnish that with a few lines of the hardened pear caramel. Serve immediately.
