Pear Crèpes
Poached pears are folded into crèpes and dusted with almonds and confectioner’s sugar. The final step is to pour pear brandy over the crèpes and flame it; if you are not at ease with this step, opt for serving them with their dusting of almonds and confectioner’s sugar and skip the pyrotechnics.
Ingredients
- Poached Pears
- Pears - 4, peeled, cored, and halved; stems left on
- Sugar - 1 cup
- Dash of Vanilla
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- Water to cover
- Crèpes
- Flour - 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon
- Sugar - 1/4 cup plus 1/2 tablespoon
- Eggs - 3, slightly beaten
- Oil - 2 tablespoons
- Unsalted Butter - 2-1/2 ounces (5 tablespoons), melted and slightly browned
- Milk - 1-1/2 cups
- Dash of salt
- Dash of orange blossom water
- Unsalted Butter - 2 , melted
- Apricot preserves - 1/4 cup, melted, strained, and cooled
- Almonds - 2 tablespoons, slivered, toasted
- Confectioner’s sugar for dusting
- Pear Brandy - 1/4 cup, or Cointreau
Instructions
To prepare the pears: Combine the ingredients in a saucepan. Poach the pears until tender, 6 to 8 minutes. Cool to room temperature and set aside.
To prepare the crèpes: Mix the flour, sugar, eggs, and oil together. Stir in the melted butter , milk, salt, and orange blossom water. Let the batter rest for 15 minutes. Heat a skillet or crèpe pan over medium-high heat. Brush with melted butter and pour in enough batter to just cover the bottom with a thin coating. Cook about 1 minute, until the edges begin to brown; turn and cook about 30 seconds on the other side. The crèpes should be cooked through, but still pale. Remove and set aside. Repeat to make at least 8 crèpes. Reserve in a warm place.
To assemble: Preheat the oven to 375 F. Brush each crèpe with apricot glaze and place the crèpes, glaze-side up, on a work surface. Place a pear half, cored-side down, on one half of each crèpe. Fold the crèpes over the pears to enclose them. Place two pear-filled crèpes on each of four ovenproof plates. Brush the edges of the crèpes with some of the poaching liquid. Sprinkle the crèpes with slivered almonds and confectioner’s sugar. Place in the oven for 5 minutes. Remove and set aside; keep warm.
To serve: Pour pear brandy over each crèpe, avert your face, and flame. Work with one plate at a time. Serve when the flames die down.
