Recipe

Pear And Brie In Phyllo Recipe

	Barbiemensher / All my dishes 9 months, 2 weeks ago This dramatic cheese course can also be made into individual purses for appetizers. This one knocked my mom's socks off. I LOVE when that happens! Prep:30m Cook:40m Servings:8	Barbiemensh
	elegant refined dramatic sinful

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Ingredients

1 pkg phyllo dough

1/2 cup melted butter (salted)

1/2 cup pecans or walnuts

4 semi-ripe pears (your favourite type) halved with core and stems removed

1 vanilla bean - split

2 star anise

1 cinnamon stick

1/3 cup apple cider (or juice works, too - unsweetened)

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup sugar

1 Tbsp brown sugar

1/8 tsp salt

1/8 tsp Freshly ground pink peppercorn *optional

1 wheel of La Rumeur or any fine Brie-type cheese - rind removed (intended for the regular sized wheel, not the Costco sized!)

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a large sauté pan with a lid, bring the cider, water, both sugars, salt, peppercorns, cinnamon, star anise & vanilla bean to a simmer. (scrape out the seeds from the vanilla and add directly to the liquid.)

Lay the pears core side down, cover and simmer about 10 minutes until tender but not mushy.

Meanwhile, toast the nuts in the oven for 6-8 minutes. Set aside.

Once cooked, remove the pears and set aside. Reduce the liquid until thickened to a nice, fragrant syrup.

Remove the phyllo from it's package and unfold. Lay a sheet of plastic over it and a damp cloth over the plastic to keep it cool and prevent it from drying out.

With your pot of melted butter next to you, lay a sheet of phyllo out on your work station, brush with butter, lay another sheet over it, brush with butter and continue to do this until you have 5 layers. Butter the top layer and then flip all of them over so that the buttered side is now on your work station.

Place the cheese in the centre of the phyllo.

Lay the poached pears over the top of the cheese.

Remove the spices and vanilla bean and drizzle the syrup over the pears. Sprinkle the pecans over the top and around the edges. Fold the phyllo up, gathering the edges at the top and pinching them together at the base so that it looks like a gift basket. Brush the entire pastry generously with the remaining butter. Fan the folds out if you want - now is the time to shape it before baking.

Bake for 30 minutes at 375 until golden.

Let cool at least 10 minutes before slicing and serving. This freezes brilliantly so feel free to make ahead and re-heat in the oven at 350 for 35 minutes if straight out of the freezer, 15 minutes if already thawed.

For individual purses, use 3 layers of buttered phyllo, cut vertically down the centre and horizontally across the middle to create 4 squares.

Lay a 1 inch X 1 inch piece of cheese in the centre of each, add a slightly smaller piece of poached pear, a couple of pecans and a drizzle of syrup. Gather up the folds, pinch, fan out a bit, butter well and bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes or until golden.

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