GINGERSNAP-CARAMEL PEAR PARFAITS

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GINGERSNAP-CARAMEL PEAR PARFAITS image

Categories     Fruit     Dessert

Yield Serves 8

Number Of Ingredients 8

4 Tbs. butter
1 cup brown sugar
4 large, firm (but ripe) Bartlett pears (about 2 pounds), halved and cored
2 cups heavy cream
2 Tbs. sugar
6 Tbs. brandy or cognac, divided
40 small gingersnap cookies
Candied or crystallized ginger

Steps:

  • Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat to 400 degrees. Melt butter in a 9-by-13-inch pan in the preheating oven until nutty golden. Sprinkle brown sugar evenly over butter in the pan, then place pears, cut sides down, over sugar. Bake until pears are tender when poked with a sharp knife and sauce is thick and caramel colored, about 40 minutes. Remove pears from sauce to a plate with a slotted spoon. Pour sauce in a measuring cup. (You should have about 1 cup of sauce. If not, simmer to reduce, or add water to equal 1 cup.) Cool pears and sauce to room temperature. (At this point, you can remove skin from the pears with a knife, if you want.) Cut each pear half into 8 chunks. When ready to assemble, whip cream into soft peaks, gradually adding sugar. Beat in 2 Tbs. of brandy. Set aside. Place 24 gingersnaps on a cookie sheet and lightly brush with some of the brandy. Work quickly; the cookies will soften in places, making them difficult to transfer. Arrange 3 cookies in each of 8 goblets. Drizzle each with some of the caramel sauce (about 1/3 cup total), a dollop of whipped cream and 4 pieces of pear. Lightly brush remaining 16 cookies with brandy and repeat layering with 2 cookies, 1/3 cup caramel sauce, whipped cream and 4 pieces of pear. Drizzle with remaining 1/3 cup caramel sauce, and cover each goblet with plastic wrap. Refrigerate parfaits and remaining whipped cream until serving time. To serve, garnish each goblet with a dollop of whipped cream and top with a couple slivers of candied ginger.

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