Recipe: Fresh Pear Baklava

by Michelle on March 5, 2012 · 9 comments

in Autumn,Healthy Desserts,Meal,Recipes,Refined Sugar-Free,Season

Here is a delicious dessert recipe which uses a fresh pear slices instead of filo pastry for a healthier twist on the traditional Baklava recipe.

Recipe: Fresh Pear Baklava

Alleregen info/recipe info: This recipe contains nuts.

This recipe can vegan/vegetarian if using coconut oil instead of butter.

Ingredients:

  • 1 pear
  • ~1/4 C. nuts* (a mix of macadamias, almonds, pistachios and walnuts is nice).
  • 1 tsp. coconut oil or butter/ghee
  • 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1 tbsp. lemon juice
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • a drizzle of raw local honey
  • cinnamon extra, to sift on top
  • optional: yoghurt or home-made vanilla ice cream (to serve)

A few tips on finding healthier nuts and seeds & preparing them:  Nuts and seeds can be made easier to digest to by having them sprouted or soaking and then drying them in a dehydrator. Here is how to sprout nuts and seeds. I’ve always found the freshest nuts are at farmers markets, but wherever nuts are solds often (meaning the batch of nuts is not sitting around for months and weeks) can be a good indicator as to how fresh it is. Also if you taste a nut such as a walnut it shouldn’t taste ‘bitter’ this is an indication the fats in the nuts are randcid (they have oxidized).

How to:

Make the pear ‘pastry’ slices:

Using a mandolin carefully slice a whole pear length ways to produce a lot of thin pear slices. They will act as the ‘pastry’. Line up the pear ‘pastry’ together and cut the pastry in half so you have two mounds of pastry (i.e. for two serves). Set these aside.

Now make the filling:

Chop the nuts into very small pieces. In a pan heat the coconut oil/butter/ghee add the nuts, cinnamon, lemon juice and vanilla and cook for a 1 minute or so. Take this off the heat.

Now to arrange the Fresh Pear Baklava:

Take each slice of pear add a bit of the nut mixture, then another slice of pear on top of that and so on. Do this for both lot of pear slices.

Serve with a bit of left over nut mixture (if there is any) and a drizzle of honey & serve with yoghurt or home-made vanilla ice cream.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Michelle

Health Food Lover is Michelle Robson-Garth. Michelle is a degree-qualified Naturopath (BHSc) and Massage Therapist. She is also a passionate writer, recipe-creator and all-round foodie from Melbourne, Australia. © Copyright: 2009-2012 Michelle Robson-Garth. Please ask permission first when using any text or images on healthfoodlover.com. Read the disclaimer here. Have a look at the recipe index for more health food lovin’ recipes. Join the Facebook page & follow Health Food Lover on twitter.

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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }

Nutrition by Nature March 5, 2012 at 9:33 pm

Yum! This looks totally delicious! Great idea with the pear for pastry, love it.

Reply

Chandra March 6, 2012 at 12:25 am

This looks incredible and a great alternative for the pastry too!

Reply

Tim @ Chicken and Apples March 6, 2012 at 12:37 pm

I think I just fell in love with this recipe. (Baklava + pears)^(Good for you) = wow.

Reply

Danijela March 11, 2012 at 3:21 am

Hello,
I must say that I have never seen this recipe before. I make traditional baklava regularly, it’s one of my favorites, so this sounds interesting. I see that preparation is much easier than for regular one, I think i will give it a try. I hope it taste similar.

Reply

Catie @ Head Plant Health March 12, 2012 at 8:51 am

This is so clever Michelle! I’m shamelessly salivating.

Reply

El Oso con Botas April 18, 2012 at 6:41 am

I love the melting and crunchy texture that baklava’s pastry gives but I must admit that your recipe is really a great and healthy change in the recipe. The photos make even easy to imagine how delicious it must be :)

Reply

Michelle April 18, 2012 at 9:01 am

Oh thank you so much for your kind comments. The good thing about pear is that is still has a ‘slight’ crunch reminiscent of the pastry :).

Reply

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