Pastry Wrapped Baked Pear with Gorgonzola

Preheat the oven to 375ºF.

To make the pastry, combine the butter, flour, baking powder and salt in a food processor with a steel blade and pulse just until it resembles coarse crumbs. Slowly pour in the ice water and pulse just until combined and a dough ball forms. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

When the dough is chilled, peel the pears and core them from the bottom so as to leave the stem intact. Fill each pear with 1 ounce of the crumbled cheese and sprinkle each pear with a light pinch of salt.

Cut the dough into 4 equal pieces and roll out each piece on a well floured surface. The dough should be fairly thin and rolled out to approximately an 8″ round.

There are two methods to wrap the pears. You can place the pear in the middle of the dough circle and simply bring the dough up to the neck of the pear and squeeze around the stem. A little bit of water on your fingertips will help the dough stick together. Alternatively, you can cut the dough circle into long, 1″ wide strips and begin wrapping your pear like a mummy. Although this is a bit more work, I liked the effect better. If you like, you can roll out the dough scraps and use a small leaf-shaped cutter to make decorative leaves to attach to the stem.

Place the pears on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 30-40 minutes or until the pastry is a light golden brown. If you want your pastry to be more brown, brush it with a beaten egg before placing in the oven.