Whenever I think of the winter, I think of this honey-ginger poached pear tea that my mom would make for us. I have done some desserts inspired by this in the past, but this time around, I wanted to try using those ginger-honey poached pears as a garnish for another dessert. I figured with ginger being spicy, pears being sweet, and honey being bitter-sweet, creamy and salty would be two flavors that would really round out and contrast those pre-existing ingredients. And because one of my favorite tarts at Tommy and Atticus(a hyper-popular bakery nearby where I live) is a Korean pear and brie tart, it was all pointing towards using brie as that ingredient. Brie is a rich French cheese that is gooey and soft, with a heavily salted rind that kind of tastes like oyster brine if that’s your thing(I tolerate it, but not everyone does?). That creamy interior, also being a dairy product, was an easy thing to incorporate into a mousse of sorts. And that was when this dessert really started to take shape and form. I would do a brie mousse, a burnt honey-Korean pear gelee to add an intense contrast, a gingerbread base, just to add some spiced, warming notes, and ginger-honey poached pear slices, to add that height and movement.

For this recipe, I would only recommend assembling it 1 hour before serving. Korean pears leach a LOT of water. Even after I poached them and patted the slices dry prior to arranging them, I found that my entremet was basically dredged in Korean pear juice by hour 3 of it sitting out. I honestly might need to revise the recipe because of that, but for now, the workaround is just not letting the cake sit out with the pear slices until you’re ready to serve it. Outside of this, this recipe does require your standard amount of freezing and waiting time for one of my mousse cakes. The gelee needs to be frozen solid before you can insert it into the brie mousse, while the gingerbread sable also needs to be baked before that gets used, so both of those components need to be done first before anything else. With the gelee, we went with burnt honey because I want complexity and bitterness to contrast the fact that Korean pears on their own have basically no flavor besides a mild sweetness. The shortbread or sable base is really easy to make, and uses honey instead of molasses, just to tie in with the honey being used throughout the dessert. The brie cheesecake mousse does require some patience, since you need to melt the cheese into the milk, but you don’t want it to overheat, or else it will turn lumpy. If that happens, an immersion blender is your best friend. While all of that is layered up and freezing away, that’s when I recommend working on the poached pear slices. They are fun to make, and use to decorate with, but as I mentioned before, the amount of excess water they exude, even after being poached, is bordering on obnoxious. I have used pear or apple slices to garnish in the past, and maybe it’s because they’re Korean pears instead of like a bosc, but if I were to revise this recipe again, I would probably try using a different pear to see if it works better. Flavor-wise, the cake is really well-balanced, but it will need to be eaten within an hour of assembly so that your cake isn’t swimming in a Korean pear-flavored puddle.

Makes 6-8 servings:
For the caramelized pear gelee:
1oz honey
1 Korea pear, peeled, cored, and diced
1 tbsp agar
a pinch of salt

In a pan, heat up the honey until it reaches 300 degrees F. In a blender, puree the pear into a liquid. Pour the pear liquid into the honey and stir on medium-low heat until everything is melted together. Add to that the agar and salt, and bring to a simmer until dissolved. Pour the base into a 5-inch ring and freeze solid, 1-2 hours.

For the ginger sable:
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tbsp dark brown sugar
1 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tbsp unsalted butter, browned
1 tsp cold water
.25oz honey
1 egg white
1/4 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
1/4 tsp ground ginger
a pinch of nutmeg
a pinch of clove

In a bowl, combined all of your ingredients to form a dough. Allow the dough to rest in the refrigerator for 10 minutes. Then on a floured surface, roll it out to roughly 1/8-inch thickness and cut out a 5-inch disk. Bake at 375 degrees F for 12 minutes.

For the brie rare cheesecake:
1/4 cup whole milk
1/3 cup granulated sugar
4oz brie cheese, rind removed
2 tsp gelatin powder + 2 tbsp cold water
8oz cream cheese
a pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
4oz heavy cream, whipped stiff

In a blender, puree the milk, sugar, and brie. Pour into a pot and add in the gelatin, stirring on low heat until everything is dissolved together. In a mixing bowl, cream the cream cheese and whisk in the brie mixture until combined. Mix in the salt and vanilla, then fold in the heavy cream.

Line a 6-inch ring mold with cling wrap and place onto a sheet tray. Pour half of the cheesecake mixture in, and then add in the gelee. Then add in the rest of the cheesecake and press into that the gingerbread. Freeze solid, another 2-3 hours, before attempting to unmold.

For the pear slices:
1 Korean pear, sliced thinly
1 knob ginger
2oz honey
1 cup water
a pinch of salt

In a pot, bring ginger, honey, water, and salt to a boil. Poach the slices in the liquid for 2-3 minutes. Allow the pear slices to cool in the liquid. Fish the slices out of the liquid before pressing with a paper towel to absorb any excess liquid before adorning the top of the cake with the slices. Serve the cake within 1 hour after assembly, as the pear slices will exude excess liquid.