Pecan toffee meringue with mulled pears

Pecan toffee meringue with mulled pears

By Sara Buenfeld
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(5 ratings)
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Prep: 30 mins Cook: 1 hr, 10 mins

Easy

Serves 8 - 10
A great dinner party centre piece you can make ahead

Nutrition and extra info

  • Freezable

Nutrition: per serving

  • kcal390
  • fat14g
  • saturates5g
  • carbs51g
  • sugars50g
  • fibre2g
  • protein9g
  • salt0.26g
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Ingredients

    For the mulled pears

    • 600ml mulled wine, ready made from a bottle
      Two glasses of mulled wine

      Mulled wine

      mulld w-eye-n

      Like ice-cold Spanish sangria, warm mulled wine is essentially red wine that is slightly…

    • 6 small, ripe, shapely pears, peeled, quartered and cored
      Pear

      Pear

      pair

      Like apples, to which they are related, pears come in thousands of varieties, of which only a…

    • 50g golden caster sugar

    For the pecan and meringue filling

    • 225g golden caster sugar
    • 1½ tsp cornflour
    • 4 large egg whites
    • 1½ tsp wine vinegar
    • 50g pecan, roughly chopped
      Pecan nuts

      Pecan

      pee-kan

      Related to the walnut, pecans are native to America, and grow enclosed in a glossy, browny-red…

    • 500g tub Greek yogurt
    • 4 tbsp dulce de leche (we used Merchant Gourmet)
    • extra toasted pecans (optional)
      Pecan nuts

      Pecan

      pee-kan

      Related to the walnut, pecans are native to America, and grow enclosed in a glossy, browny-red…

    Method

    1. Put the wine, pears and sugar in a pan and simmer for 10 mins.

    2. Heat oven to 160C/140C/gas 3. Draw a 25cm circle on a sheet of baking parchment, then put on a baking sheet. Stir 225g sugar and cornflour together in a jug. Whisk the egg whites until stiff, then whisk in the sugar mixture, a tbsp at a time, until thick and glossy.

    3. Fold in vinegar and half the nuts, then pile mixture onto the circle, building up the edges to make a ‘nest’. Scatter with rest of pecans then put in oven, turning the temperature down to 150C/fan 130C/gas 2. Bake for 1 hr, then turn oven off and cool inside for 1 hr.

    • Recipe Tip

      To serve

      Take the pears from the juice, then simmer the juice until it’s syrupy and glossy. Return the pears and cool. Stir the yogurt with the Dulche de leche. To serve, pile the filling in the meringue and arrange pears on top. Scatter with nuts, if using. Hand round the syrup for guests to spoon a little over.

    • Recipe Tip

      To freeze

      Cool, then carefully pack into a large, rigid container. Pack the pears in a container or food bag. Freeze for 6 weeks.

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    Comments, questions and tips

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    DamarisReeves
    6th Dec, 2018
    5.05
    Absolutely delicious and easy. Cut the pears into 8ths instead of quarters. Also I assembled it just before it went on the table.
    davidson
    2nd Jan, 2014
    Wonderful dessert - made for 10 people for New years eve dinner party. Will now lovingly be referred to a beetroot pavlova as the pears were very dark red from the wine. Next time I will chop the pears into smaller pieces as it was hard to cut up and share them equally. Couldn't find the Dulche De Lech but used Rowse's fudge sauce which worked beautifully. Will become a favourite in our house.
    vivaves
    11th Nov, 2011
    3.05
    I like the meringue and mulled pears combination - the greek yoghurt is a little on the tart side and cream would have probably been loads better, but if you're trying to watch your fat intake, yoghurt is fine (I used 0% greek yoghurt). I halved the recipe as I didn't have that many people to feed, and it worked well. The syrup made things far too sweet so I saved it to serve with stewed fruit - it was certainly not needed with the sweet meringue.
    vernumt's picture
    vernumt
    17th Nov, 2009
    4.05
    A really great dessert but assemble and eat straight away otherwise it collapses under the weight!!!
    marjib
    5th Oct, 2009
    5.05
    I had eaten a similar dish in a local restaurant and thought it was amazing so was delighted to find your recipe. I didn't have mulled wine, so just used a spiced-up red wine to poach the pears. I made it in a rectangular dish to match the restaurant's -great. It also freezes really well. Am I allowed to say the local Restauarant, which is really good is Delivino in Crieff!
    jennymcbride
    30th Dec, 2007
    I am astonished as the low rating for this amazing dessert! It has become a family classic inour house!
    lizziesfolder
    12th Dec, 2007
    2.05
    Disappointing. The greek yoghurt was too tart, I think next time I would use cream. The mulled pears, sounded great, but weren't as flavoursome as I had hoped. Meringue was excellent. Dessert looked fantastic, but the combination of flavours let it down.
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