Honeyed Pears in Puff Pastry

Honeyed Pears in Puff Pastry                

4 small pears

1 sheet of ready made puff pastry dough, thawed

4 cups water

2 cups sugar

1 cup honey

1/2 lemon

1 vanilla bean, seeded with hull reserved

3 sticks of cinnamon

6-8 whole cloves

Peel pears and core from the bottom.  Cut the bottom of the pears strait across, so they will stand upright.  Set aside.  

In a medium saucepan, combine the 4 cups water, 2 cups sugar and 1 cup honey.  Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat.  When the sugar has melted, add the pears, vanilla seeds and hull, 1/2 lemon, cinnamon and cloves.  Simmer pears until they are fork tender.  This can take 20-40 minutes, depending on the ripeness of your pears.  

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

When the pears are soft, remove them from the pot and allow them to cool slightly.  Discard solid pieces from saucepan and reserve 1 1/2 cups of the poaching liquid.  While pears are cooling, cut the puff pastry into 1/2" strips.  One sheet of puff pastry will cover 4 small pears.  Large pears will need a second sheet of puff pastry to compensate.

Wrap cooled pears with puff pastry starting at the bottom and working upwards.  When you come to the end of a pastry strip, brush it lightly with water and press to adhere to the next pastry strip.  Continue wrapping until you reach the top of the pear.  Tuck the end of the last pastry piece behind the previous dough spiral.  Place wrapped pears on a parchment lined jelly roll pan and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until puff pastry is golden brown. 

Simmer the reserved poaching liquid over medium heat until thick and syrupy.  Plate pears and top with syrup.