Pear Phyllo Crisp
There was a while that I went through a phyllo phase… If you go back a few posts, I made some Chicken Pot Pie w/ a phyllo top and well that comes with a price – left over phyllo.
With that said, I’ve made apple turnovers with them (something I made way back in high school) and there were still loads of left overs! This is where this Pear Pyhllo Crisp comes in 🙂
Here’s what the recipe calls for (and here is how you can tweak the recipe):
½ cup pecans, toasted and finely chopped (you can buy chopped peacans in the store. I didn’t toast mine)
1/3 cup plain breadcrumbs (I used Japanese panko)
¼ cup sugar (I add a bit more in a small bowl for sprinkling the top)
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon (I add a bit more in a small bowl for sprinkling the top)
6 sheets of frozen phyllo dough thawed.
1 stick of unsalted butter melted
1 thinly peeled pear or apple (I used pear, and after trying it with Anjou and Bartlette, I have to say i prefer the Anjou. The ones used in the picture above are the Bartlette.)
Here’s what the recipe said to do (and here is how you can tweak the recipe):
1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Combine pecans, breadcrumbs (panko), sugar and cinnamon together.
3. Line a baking sheet that is big enough for the phyllo sheet (depending on the baking sheet you use, if it has a side, the phyllo might come up the side, let it.)
4. Top 1 sheet of phyllo on the parchment, brush phyllo ALL OVER with butter, sprinkle peacan mixture evenly over the top. Repeat 4 times using ALL the mixture.
5. Top with the last phyllo sheet and brush with more butter. Slice the pear about .3 cm thick, or as thin as you can with out cutting yourself (recipe suggests using a mandolin, but I don’t have one yet). Poke out the seeds and arrange the slices in a single layer on the phyllo. Don’t forget to leave space between the slices so that you can cut round it.
6. Brush the fruit with whatever butter you have left and sprinkle with the sugar and cinnamon mixture (that you put together in a small bowl).
7. Bake, rotating sheet ½ way through until the phyllo is golden brown and the fruit is soft, about 20-25 minutes. (I found 20 minutes too be too long and the pecans and panko mixture gets too crunchy to the point of having a burnt flavour. Check it at 10 minutes, if it’s not golden, leave it in for another 5. 15 minutes is perfect.)
Make sure you let it cool.