Chocolate Brownie with Pears and Hazelnuts

50g of a high quality dark chocolate, melted
1 large pear, washed, peeled, cleaned and sliced
2 splashes of juice from lemon
50g of plain flour, sifted
1 teaspoon of baking powder, sifted
1 teaspoon of gingerbread spice, sifted
10+10g of ground hazelnuts
150g a good quality Mascarpone Cheese
100g caster superfine sugar
1 package of vanilla sugar
2 whole eggs + 1 egg yolk

Ice cream to serve with

First, melt the chocolate in a steam bath. Constantly mix. Once you get a shiny smooth texture, take off the heat and transfer onto a pot filled with cold water. This way it will cool down much faster.

Place the slices of pear into a small mixing bowl and sprinkle with lemon juice, so it doesn’t darken.

In another small mixing bowl place flour with baking powder, gingerbread spice and 10g of hazelnuts. Mix well.

In a large mixing bowl place the Mascarpone with some sugar. Whisk for about 3 minutes until fluffy.

Start adding eggs, one at a time. Firstly, start whisking on a lower speed until it has been incorporated. Then increase the speed to the highest.

Add dry flour mix and give a good stir.

Pour in the chocolate and mix.

Mold the mixture into a lightly greased baking tray (I used 20x15cm) lined with a baking paper. Place the slices of pear on the top of it and sprinkle with the rest of hazelnuts.
Bake for about 30 minutes until wooden stick comes clean from the middle and top gets a bit crunchy.

Let it cool down on a rack and serve with a cup of coffee and nougat ice cream.

Makes 10 serves.