A craving for dessert that came too late for a mercy dash to the shop instead led us to this hastily-put-together invention.  It’s not really a recipe: just take some odd bits of shortcrust pastry, one ripe pear, and some ends of glace ginger, and voila: dessert.    The pear and ginger filling was a nice riff on the familiar apple turnover idea, suitably spicy and warming for our present chilly season.  And if you’ll believe me,  the heart-shapes you see below were almost purely fortuitous.  My pastry odd-bits were vaguely triangular to start with, and got me wondering whether my heart-shaped mould would fit over the filling, which they miraculously did.  See where your odds and ends take you, seemed to be the message of the night.  Indeed!

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Pear and Ginger Hearts

Shortcrust pastry (enough for 2 parcels of whatever shape you desire)
1 large ripe pear, peeled and diced
4-5 ends glace ginger, finely chopped (about 1 heaped tbsp in all)
1 tsp raw caster sugar and a big pinch of cinnamon, for sprinkling on top
1 egg, lightly beaten

Preheat pastry to 200C.

Divide your pastry into 4 pieces.  You will need 2 smaller ones for bases, and 2 larger ones for the tops.

In a small bowl, stir together the pear pieces and ginger.  Divide the pear mix onto your 2 bases, leaving a 1cm edge.  Brush the edge with the egg mixture.  Place your pastry tops over the pear, and push down to seal.  Cut out the pastry parcels into hearts or whatever shapes fit best.  Brush the tops really well with the egg mixture, and sprinkle over the sugar and cinnamon mixture.

Bake for 12 minutes, then turn down the heat to 180C and bake for a further 15 minutes or until the tops are golden.

Yield: 2 hearts.