By
delicious. team
This is the perfect post-Christmas meal dessert; it's light, creamy and fruity and just a little bit boozy.
Ingredients
- 2 x 390g jars of baby pears in vanilla (we used Opies, from Waitrose)
- 25g butter
- 6 trifle sponges
- 3-6 tbsp dark rum
- 150g double cream
- 15g icing sugar
- 250g tub of mascarpone
- 50g dark chocolate, ‘peeled’ with a vegetable peeler or made into curls
For the pear crisps
- 1 pear
- 25g caster sugar
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
Method
- 1. For the pear crisps, preheat the oven to 140°C/fan120°C/gas 1. Cut the pear in half and each half into 6 thin slices, removing any pips.
- 2. Gently simmer the sugar, lemon juice and 1 tbsp water in a small pan until the sugar has dissolved. Take off the heat and dip each pear slice into the syrup to coat. Put on a lined baking tray and bake for 1 hour or until golden and starting to crisp. Cool on a fresh sheet of baking paper.
- 3. Drain the baby pears, reserving 200ml of the syrup. Cut into quarters and remove the stalks and cores.
- 4. Heat the butter in a non-stick frying pan over a high heat. Add the pear quarters and cook for 1-2 minutes on each cut side until caramelised, then remove and set aside. Pour the reserved syrup into the pan and simmer until thick, then remove to a bowl. Set aside to cool.
- 5. Slice each sponge in half and divide among 6 serving glasses. Spoon ½-1 tbsp rum over each and leave to soak in. Beat the cream with the icing sugar until thickened, then fold in the mascarpone until you have a light, soft cream.
- 6. Arrange the pear quarters on the sponges and pour over most of the syrup. Top with a generous spoonful of cream mixture, then chill in the fridge until ready to serve.
- 7. Remove from the fridge 15 minutes before serving, sprinkle over the chocolate and decorate each one with a pear crisp. Pour a little more pear syrup over each to serve.
Nutritional info
Per serving: 525kcals, 36.9g fat (23.6g saturated), 3.2g protein, 41.5g carbs, 37.1g sugar, 0.2g salt