I can hear you now…
“Really, Suzie? I mean, we just finished stuffing our face with far too many sweets over the holidays, and now this??”
I know. It’s not kale. But it’s also not a Nutella slathered fat filled brownie.
So there.
Consider this dessert a way to ease yourself out of the sugar laden binge we all just came off of.
It’s relatively healthy, not really sweet, relatively low in calories and it has fruit.
So there. Again.
Aaaand, you can make them in regular muffin tins or even mini muffin tins so it’s an itsy bitsy dessert…like, it won’t even really count!
🙂
Cut your pear (or you can use apple or even bananas) in small pieces – especially if you are serving these as mini cups.
After you make the 5 layers of phyllo, cut them into squares big enough to put into your muffin tin and hang over a bit (if you use mini tins, you have to cut them smaller…obvs!!)
You can use butter (or cooking spray if you’re lazy smart) …
See how it hangs off the side? You want that because it looks like a cute little bowl!
Right? Can you see it? An edible bowl! Like, crazy, right?
Less dishes to clean….I got your back!
- Cups:
- 1/4 package frozen phyllo dough (1/2 roll), thawed
- 1/4 cup melted butter (or you can use cooking spray!)
- White sugar
- Pears:
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter (1/2 stick)
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 4 medium Bosc pears, cored and cut into large dice (about 4 cups)
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- Additional:
- Good quality vanilla bean ice cream
- Store bought (good quality) or homemade custard
- Ground cinnamon
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray mini muffin cups lightly with baking spray.
- Take a sheet of phyllo and brush with melted butter (or spray thoroughly with cooking spray!). Sprinkle lightly with sugar. Lay another sheet on top and repeat until you have five sheets stacked up. Cut into small equal squares and press into cups.
- Bake for about 10 minutes or until golden. Watch carefully and don’t let them burn. Take out and twist out cups and set on a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Meanwhile, begin the filling by melting the butter in a medium frying pan over medium heat. When it foams, sprinkle sugar over top and cook until bubbling and dissolved, about 3 minutes.
- Add pears and cook, stirring rarely, until mixture is caramelized and pears just begin to release their juices.
- Gently fold in cloves and set aside.
- For the assembly, place the phyllo shells on a platter.
- Scoop a small round of vanilla ice cream into the bottom of each phyllo cup.
- Next, spoon a tablespoon full of custard on top of the ice cream and then top with the warm pears.
- Sprinkle with cinnamon if desired and serve immediately
