I made this white chocolate trifle from Bon Appetit Desserts by Barbara Fairchild for Christmas Eve last year. If you are going to be the one in charge of making a dessert for a party this coming holiday season, perhaps this is the recipe for you! With the richness of the cream and white chocolate as well as the seasonal spices used in poaching the pears, this makes an appropriate, comforting treat for the cozier winter months. It includes several more expensive ingredients such as white chocolate, mascarpone, and vanilla bean so I would save it for a special occasion. It also has a large serving yield, so its great to share with a big group; we had a lot leftover!
Here are my cooking notes for this recipe:
i) Make sure you use GOOD quality white chocolate. The recipe called for this (Lindt was an example). I happened to be one-stop-shopping and just used what they had at the store I was in...I think it was Baker's chocolate which wasn't as good a quality and resulted in a slightly grainy trifle cream.
ii) I could not find any pear brandy at the liquor store. I ended up using regular brandy instead and put in a little less than what the recipe calls for for fear of compromising the flavour.
iii) Before reading this recipe, I had never heard of pear nectar. It was surprisingly easy to find in the grocery store and was made by an Italian producer.
There are a lot of steps to this recipe although it does allow you to prepare steps ahead of time for your convenience. Making this trifle felt like quite a laborious activity with mediocre results (in my experience), but I must say that when I was poaching the pears in all of the spices, my kitchen had never smelled so good!
Ingredients:
Spiced Pears
1 750 ml bottle dry white wine
2 cups pear juice or pear nectar
1 1/4 cups sugar
12 whole green cardamom pods,
crushed in resealable plastic bag
with mallet (I used a wooden spoon)
4 1-inch diameter rounds peeled fresh ginger
(each about 1/4 inch thick)
2 cinnamon sticks, broken in half
5 large firm but ripe Anjou pears (3 to 3 1/4 pounds),
peeled
Mousse
7 oz high-quality white chocolate (such as Lindt or
1 750 ml bottle dry white wine
2 cups pear juice or pear nectar
1 1/4 cups sugar
12 whole green cardamom pods,
crushed in resealable plastic bag
with mallet (I used a wooden spoon)
4 1-inch diameter rounds peeled fresh ginger
(each about 1/4 inch thick)
2 cinnamon sticks, broken in half
5 large firm but ripe Anjou pears (3 to 3 1/4 pounds),
peeled
Mousse
7 oz high-quality white chocolate (such as Lindt or
Perugina), chopped
1/3 cup Poire Williams (clear pear brandy)
1/4 cup water
1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
1 8 to 9 oz container mascarpone cheese
Trifle Assembly
3 3 oz packages soft ladyfingers, separated
2 cups chilled heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup minced crystallized ginger
White chocolate curls
Powdered sugar
1) Spiced Pears: Combine white wine, pear juice, sugar, cardamom, ginger, and cinnamon in a heavy large saucepan. Stir over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves. Add pears and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium, cover, and simmer until pears are just tender when pierced with knife, about 35 minutes. Transfer liquid with pears to large bowl and chill until cold, about 3 hours.
2) Using a slotted spoon, transfer pears to a plate. Transfer poaching liquid to heavy large saucepan; boil over medium-high heat until slightly thickened and reduced to generous 11/2 cups, about 15 minutes. Strain into 2-cup measuring cup; discard spices in strainer. Cool. Cover and chill pears and pear syrup until cold.
3) Mousse: Combine white chocolate, pear brandy, and 1/4 cup water in top of double boiler set over simmering water. Stir until smooth (mixture will be very liquidy). Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean (reserve bean for another use). Transfer white chocolate mixture to large bowl; gradually add mascarpone, whisking until mixture is smooth. Cool mascarpone mixture until barely lukewarm.
4) Using electric mixer, beat cream in medium bowl until peaks form. Fold whipped cream into mascarpone mixture in 4 additions. Cover and chill white chocolate mousse until set, about 3 hours.
* Pears and mousse can be made 1 day ahead.
Keep chilled*
Keep chilled*
5) Trifle Assembly: Cut pears lengthwise in half and remove cores and stems. Cut halves lengthwise into 1/4-inch-thick slices.
6) Arrange ladyfingers, rounded sides down, in single layer in bottom of 12-cup trifle dish (about 8 inches in diameter and 5 inches deep), covering bottom completely (using about 15 ladyfingers). Drizzle 5 tablespoons pear syrup evenly over ladyfingers.
7) Using small offset spatula or spoon, spread 1/3 of white chocolate mousse over ladyfingers, making layer slightly thicker around outer edges of dish to allow mousse to be more visible (centre of mousse layer will be thin).
8) Starting at outer edges of dish, place pear slices in single layer with curved edges against sides of dish atop mousse, covering completely. Repeat layering of ladyfingers, syrup, mousse, and pears 2 more times. Cover with fourth layer of ladyfingers (some ladyfingers and pear slices may be leftover). Drizzle ladyfingers evenly with 5 tablespoons syrup. Chill at least 6 hours.
*Can be assembled 1 day ahead. Cover and chill trifle and remaining pear syrup separately.*
9) Using an electric mixer, beat cream in large bowl until soft peaks form. Add 1/4 cup pear syrup and beat until stiff peaks form. Working in batches, transfer cream to large pastry bag fitted with large star tip. Pipe rosettes all over top of trifle, mounding slightly in centre. Sprinkle with crystallized ginger. Garnish with white chocolate curls (which I made with a vegetable peeler).
*The trifle cream and topping can be made 6 hours ahead. Keep chilled*
10) Sift powdered sugar over trifle just before serving.
* * * * * *
And that is that! I would like to end this post with a few pictures from my Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning from last year...
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