How to Bake Fresh Fruit Gratin

Serves: 6

Preparation time: 10 mins

Cooking time: 1 hour 2 mins

Ingredients needed to make Fresh Fruit Gratin:

• 1 ½ lb firm and ripe Bartlett pears
• 1 ½ lb small Gala apples
• 18 prunes, pitted
•  24 apricots
• 1 cup mascarpone cheese
• 6 strips fresh lemon zest
• ½ cup Cognac
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 2 tbsp confectioners’ sugar
• 5 tbsp light brown sugar, packed

Cooking instructions for Fresh Fruit Gratin:

• Warm up your oven to 400 degrees f.
• Slice the apples longitudinally into equal halves, without chopping off their stems and core with a melon baller.
• Slice the pears longitudinally into equal halves, chop off the root ends and core them in a similar fashion.
• Add a knob of butter onto a 3 quart shallow baking pan and heat it in the oven for a couple of minutes or until it melts.
• Add a large splash of Cognac and stir in 3 tbsp of the brown sugar until well combined.
• Scatter the cored fruits into the dish, along with the apricots, prunes and lemon zest strips.
• Toss them gently to coat well and wrap the surface with a sheet of foil to cover tightly.
• Place the dish in the middle oven rack and bake for an hour, stirring them from time to time and spooning the juices over them to baste well.
• Take it out of the oven and set aside.
• Warm up your broiler in the meantime.
• Pour 1/3 cup of the cooking juices into a bowl and whisk in rest of the sugar until it dissolves.
• Stir in the mascarpone cheese until mixed thoroughly and set aside.
• Spread the fruits onto the baking dish in an even layer, so that their cut sides are facing up and top it up with the cheese mixture.
• Sift the confectioners’ sugar onto the cheese layer and place the dish in the preheated broiler, about 3’’ from the heating coil.
• Broil for a couple of minutes or until the icing sugar caramelizes and remove from oven.
• Allow the gratin to cool for a moment.
• Carve out small squares and serve warm.

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons