Sometimes people can react oddly after I tell them I’m combining certain foods, usually a combination of surprise and mild apprehension. When I mentioned that I was combining pears and cheese I received more than one of these questionable looks. Then I see them preparing a cheese plate with fruit and nuts on it, or they order salad that contains blue cheese, walnut, and pears…. When I point this out they invariably say, “Oh, that’s different.”

It isn’t! If nobody questions Tyler Florence, Ina Garten, Emeril, and over 335,000 Google hits, you don’t get to question me when I do it! And you certainly can’t be surprised by my combination when cheddar cheese and apple pie shows up in chain restaurants.

Pear and Goat Cheese Triangles

Besides, my approach was more subtle than cheddar and apple pie. I wanted to make little appetizers of crisp phyllo dough around a pear, blue cheese and honey mixture. Fold these into triangles, then bake until the phyllo begins to brown and the cheese melts. You’ll be left with a very tasty appetizer. I have to say, I even impressed myself.

If you have never worked with phyllo dough before, it can seem to be a little intimidating. The dough is very thin and can dry easily. Don’t worry though, a gentle hand and some plastic wrap to cover any unused dough is the best solution. Work on a large counter with enough space so the dough can remain flat. Any dough not immediately in use should be covered to prevent to becoming brittle and hard to work with.

Pear and Goat Cheese Trianlges

Be sure to wrap it completely around the filling or the cheese will ooze out onto the parchment paper as it bakes–I had a few leaks the first time I made this. In the end I found the best method was to use a double-wide strip and fold the dough over itself before folding into triangles (like little paper footballs). See here (here for video) for some folding tips, it’s not difficult. You don’t have to tuck the dough into the last bit as you would with paper, simply use a tiny bit of water to stick it to itself.

Pear and Blue Cheese Triangles

Ingredients
A note about the quantity of cheese and pear: Once the pear is peeled, seeded, and diced, you should have about equal parts by weight of pear to cheese.
7 oz blue cheese
about 2 pears (about 7 oz) peeled, seeded, and diced
1 1/2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp honey
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp Chinese five-spice
phyllo dough

Directions
1. In a small pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the diced pear and cook until it begins to become tender, 2-3 minutes. Add the honey, cumin, and Chinese five-spice and cook for 3-4 more minutes, stirring often, until the pear is very soft. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Can be refrigerated overnight.
2. In a medium bowl, crumble/smush the cheese. Fold in the cooled pear mixture. Preheat the oven to 400F.
3. Cut a sheet of phyllo dough in half lengthwise. Cover the rest of the dough with plastic wrap to prevent it from drying. Depending on the width of the phyllo dough (and the size you wish to make your appetizers) you will have some leeway with how wide to cut the dough. Put about a heaping tablespoon of the pear-cheese mixture near the bottom corner of the strip. Fold the strip in half down the length of it. Then fold the dough diagonally into triangles (see the links above). Once you get to the end, wet your finger in some water, then trace your finger around the last bit of dough to moisten it. Fold this over the top of the rest and it should stick to itself.
4. Place each triangle onto a parchment lined baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Bake (without the plastic wrap) for 6-8 minutes, or until the dough browns and becomes crispy.

Pear and goat cheese trianlges.

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