If you love eating seasonal fruits, then the winter has many different types of fruits in abundance. They are not only colourful but also very versatile and can be used in many different kinds of dishes that will change the way you look at them. While strawberries and oranges are popularly eaten during this time of the year, the uniqueness of pears makes it hard to ignore. When eaten fresh, they are juicy and make for delicious treats that are in season. 
  
Interestingly, the winter season coincides with the festive season as Christmas and New Year are around the corner. It gives you all the more reason to experiment with the ripe, green-coloured fruit that deserves more than just being eaten raw. More popularly, pears are either poached or stewed when added to either sweet or savoury dishes, but Indian chefs say there is a lot more that you can do with them. 
  
With the fruit in season, mid-day.com spoke to Indian chefs to share their favourite recipes that they have experimented on while working with the fruit. They not only poach the pears with wine but also use spiced butter to bring out their flavours. They completely transform the fruit into innovative dishes that will change the way you look at the fruit during this season not only by making sweet but also savoury dishes. 

Thandai & Khoobani Brownie Tart with Pear Caramel Jelly 
At ITC Grand Central in Parel, apart from making Winter Spice Poached Pears, Roasted Pear and Gorgonzola Salad, and Caramelised Pear and Brie Crostini, sous chef Mozanne Karbhari says she also makes a deliciously elaborate Thandai & Khoobani Brownie Tart with Pear Caramel Jelly. She brings out the best of both worlds through the thandai and the khoobani, which the city chef makes into a brownie tart, but also uses pears to make a mouthwatering caramel jelly with it. 
  
Pate Sucre 

Ingredients: 
Unsalted butter  400 gm     
Castor sugar 300 gm     
Eggs 150 gm     
Almond powder 90 gm     
Flour 750 gm     
Essence  10 gm     
  
Method: 
1. Make a cream of butter and sugar till light and fluffy. 
2. Gradually add the eggs and lastly the flour. 
3. Portion the dough out and keep it in the wok to rest overnight. 
4. Roll out and use as desired the next day. 
  
Eggless Brownie 
  
Ingredients: 
Butter 150 gm     
Castor sugar 100 gm     
Milk 100 gm     
Curd 60 gm     
Vanilla essence 2 gm     
Vinegar 5 gm     
Condensed milk 160 gm 
Flour 80 gm     
Almond powder 120 gm     
Baking powder 7 gm     
Baking soda 3 gm     
Honey 100 gm                 
  
Method: 
1. Melt the butter and mix all the ingredients. 
2. Let the batter rest overnight and use it the next day. 
3. Line the cake ring with foil, pour the batter into it as required, and bake at 165 degrees Celsius for about 12 to 15 minutes.   
  
Pear Jelly 
  
Ingredients:             
Pear diced 3 nos 
Butter 40 gm     
Honey 45 gm     
Sugar 100 gm     
Cream  50 ml     
Gelatine 4 gm                 
  
Method: 
1. Cook honey and butter together, add the pears, and cook further. 
2. Make caramel, add cream, and add the sauce to the above mixture. 
3. Add gelatin and then pour the mixture into moulds and use. 
  
White chocolate streusel 
Butter 252 gm     
Brown sugar 252 gm     
Almond powder 252 gm 
Flour 252 gm     
White chocolate  133.33 gm     
  
Method: 
1. Combine all the dry ingredients except chocolate. 
2. Let the dough rest overnight in the chiller. 
3. Grate it onto a tray and bake at 165 degrees Celsius for about 15 minutes. 
4. Take it out and mix white chocolate. 
5. Use as desired.             
            
Caramel Ganache 
Castor sugar 230 gm     
Cream 280 gm     
Glucose 50 gm     
Salt 3 gm     
Butter  70 g     
White chocolate 40 gm     
  
Method: 
1. Make caramel with sugar and glucose. 
2. Add cream, salt, and butter and heat till 112 degrees Celsius. 
3. Pour the hot mixture over the white chocolate and blend. 
4. Let it cool overnight. 
5. Use as desired the next day. 
  
Assembly 
  
Method: 
1. Make the pate sucre dough and let it rest overnight in the chiller. 
2. Line tart rings the next day, let it rest again for some time, and blind bake for about 10 minutes. 
3. Bake the brownie batter pour it into the rings and bake till done.   
4. Place the pear-caramel jelly over and then put the dessert on the plate. 
5. Garnish with caramel ganache, vanilla cream and white chocolate streusel, meringue sticks and caramel jelly.