Time to confront my fears – puff pastry. I recently watched Bruno Albouze produce several beautiful deserts using quick puff pastry – a King’s Cake, an apple pie and apple turnovers. Besides showcasing upgraded versions of classic French deserts, Albouze was demonstrating the quality results possible with a very fast method of making puff pastry. The method reduced the production of puff pastry from three days to just a couple of hours. I thought, “Now that’s an idea to take with me into retirement.” And, by the looks of things, I surely will.

I had lots of fruit in the house to choose from, especially apples and pears. I chose to substitute pears for this classic French, Chausson aux pommes (Apple Turnovers), pastry. The result has been delicious. Here’s the low down:

1. 1/2 recipe of Albouze’s quick puff pastry. Follow his directions and you will succeed.

2. Pear Compote. The compote contains the reason for my choice to use pears instead of apples today. The pears were super ripe and needed to be used. I was hungry for lots of flavor, so I searched and found a recipe for Spiced Pear Compote. I knew that this recipe with anise, cinnamon, vanilla and nutmeg would help create an exotic filling – and I wasn’t disappointed. It was a struggle to save the compote for the turnovers and not just eat it on the spot. But I managed. As usual, added my own small touch to this recipe. First, I was able to use freshly grated nutmeg. Second, I added about an ounce of Poire Williams Eau de Vie for some added depth.

3. The pear filling. I simply peeled, cored and diced enough pears to give me 350 gm fruit for the filling. As per the apple mixture recipe of Chef Albouze, I added sugar and a bit of cinnamon and then sautéed them on high for a few minutes to soften but not disintegrate the small pieces and drive away a great deal of moisture.

1. 350 gm pear
2. 80 gm sugar
3. 15 gm butter

Filling and dough done, time to assemble:

Tomorrow – apple turnovers. The puff pastry is already made.

Have a sweet day.