
The FIRST Day – 1 Candied Pear
On the first day of Christmas & family the Taste Magician gives to you – Candied Pear.
In the holiday season who doesn’t love candied pears? A great opportunity to have fun with the family and experiment with simple, easily available ingredients. Candied pears can be cut thin, baked in caramel and used to decorate cakes or as we did – covered in caramel and topped with fabulous treats. While they tend to be very sweet because of how it is prepared, it is great for decorating the table this time of the year and a good opportunity for the kids to learn so decorating techniques and tricks. Children are fascinated with the process of making toffee, just be careful not to leave them alone as toffee caramel can be very hot. The recipe below is quite flexible, play with flavours, spices, toppings; anything the children love. Mine dunked pecan nuts into them… so the sky is the limit. Remember, 🎄Christmas is after all spending quality time with family and having fun.
Ingredients:
- 1 Cup Butter
- 2 ¼ Cup Packed Light Brown Sugar
- 35 ml Sweetened Condensed Milk
- 1 Cup Light Corn Syrup
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Method:
- In a large microwave safe bowl, melt the butter, ensure it’s a big enough bowl so that the caramel wont boil over.
- Then add the brown sugar, condensed milk, and light corn syrup. Mix it well
- Microwave on high for 14-20 minutes (timings may vary dependant on the type of microwave you possess.). Remove every 3 or so minutes to stir and quickly return to the microwave, be careful not to burn yourself the caramel will be very hot.
- Check to see the consistency after about 10-12 minutes, using a wooden spoon check to see if it will coat the back of that spoon. If it sticks and a drop is formed on the edge, then remove if not coo for a further 5 minutes.
- Remove and cool for about 2 minutes and then dip the pear holding the stem ensuring it has been coated all around. Hold the pear above the caramel to allow excess to drip off.
- Place on a sheet of parchment paper so it can firm up.
- After it has turned hard, dip the pear in melted chocolate then dip into any toppings you fancy.
- Place on parchment paper so that the chocolate can dry.
Notes:
- All of these steps can be repeated in a pan, on the hob. (we did it on the hob)
- Cook less and it will be soft and sticky. cook too much it will hard and chewy
- To test if caramel is done (approx. 14 minute) drop some caramel into a bowl of ice cold water wait for a minute then remove to check consistency – if it is too hard it has overcooked, if it falls apart then it has to cook longer.
- Choose pears with long stems. (so that dipping them is much easier)
- ‘Tis your chance to be creative and jolly. Use whatever topping you want the sky is the limit.