Baking used to be something which was popular and almost every girl was taught how to bake and cook. These days it seems that the art of baking is fading away and many people find it difficult to manage even the simplest cooking. This is why I was glad to see my nephew trying out some baking in the holidays and he produced some amazing results by following an easy clotted cream recipe along with a homemade toffee apples recipe. This is the simplest pear and chocolate tart recipe which he perfected.
Ingredients
- 1 round shortcrust pie pastry
- 1 large can of pear halves in light syrup
- 12 ounces sweetened dark chocolate
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons sugar (optional)
Method
- Preheat the oven to 400F (200C).
- Fit the pastry to a tart pan or pie tin and pierce the bottom in several dozen places with the tines of a fork. Drain the pears and slice them into 1/8 inch slices.
- Place the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl and microwave on high for 2 minutes or so. Check as you go to see if the chocolate has melted. Stop the microwave as soon as it is all melted.
- Pour and scrape the melted chocolate into the pastry shell. Arrange the pears on top of the chocolate in an attractive overlapping pattern.
- Beat the eggs with the sugar and then the cream. Pour this on top of the pears.
- Bake for 25 minutes, or until the top begins to brown.
- If you wish, sprinkle the tart with two tablespoons of sugar and place it under the grill just until the sugar just starts to caramelize.
- Remove from oven and let cool completely before serving.
One of the most impressive desserts which he conjured up was the ice cream bombe which looked great and professional but was amongst the easiest things to make. There is not just one ice cream bombe recipe which you can use and they are all easy. You start off with a bowl in which you can either make one large dessert, or small individual dishes which can make an impressive talking point at a dinner party. An ice cream bombe is an impressive yet easy-to-make French frozen dessert, made of layers of ice cream and frozen in a spherical mold such as a bowl. Any flavour of ice cream will do but you can also make bombes with sorbet or a mix of ice cream and sorbet.
Start by spreading the first layer of ice cream on the cling film which you have placed on the inside of the bowl and freezing it thoroughly. Once this has hardened, add the next layers of ice cream or sorbet and you can even add nuts and fruit to the layers. Freeze each layer and once the centre if full, turn out on a plate and serve. This is a very simple ice cream bombe recipe and you can adapt it to different flavours and textures.
Kellys Clotted Cream Ice Cream UK 