Ingredients
Serves 6
6 sheets Antoniou Fillo Pastry
3 William pears
3/4 cup (plus 3 teaspoons extra) sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 strips lemon peel
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 cup hazelnuts
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon mixed spice
100g butter, melted (plus extra for greasing)
5 stems of rhubarb cut into 4 cm lengths
Icing sugar, for dusting
Ice cream or custard, to serve
Method
Before you begin this Filo Pastry recipe, take your packet of Filo Pastry out of the fridge, still in its packaging and allow it to come up to room temperature.
Peel and core pears, then dice into 1 cm cubes. Place in a medium saucepan along with 1/2 cup sugar, lemon juice and peel. Stir over a medium heat until simmering. Add cinnamon stick, cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove lid and simmer, stirring occasionally for a further 10 minutes or until pears are tender. Set aside to cool. When cool, drain excess liquid from pears. Remove peel and cinnamon stick.
Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease six 11cm diameter pie dishes with butter and set aside.
Spread hazelnuts on an oven tray. Roast for 8 minutes or until lightly toasted. Place in a tea towel and rub to remove skins. Cool, then place in a food processor along with 1/4 cup of the sugar, breadcrumbs and mixed spice. Process until hazelnuts are finely ground. Set aside.
Lay a sheet of Filo Pastry on a bench. Brush liberally with butter, then sprinkle with 1 tablespoon hazelnut mixture. Lay another sheet of Fillo over the top, then brush liberally with butter. Cut in halves lengthways, then into thirds crossways, to form 6 squares. Stack 3 of the squares, placing them at a slight angle to each other to achieve a star shape. Repeat with remaining 3 squares to form another stack. Line 2 of the prepared pie dishes with the Fillo stacks, allowing edges to overhang.
Place 1 and a 1/2 tablespoons of the remaining hazelnut mixture on the base of each tart.
Place 1/6th of the pears (about 1/4 cup) in each tart. Top each tart with a layer of rhubarb (about 5 pieces). Brush rhubarb lightly with water, then sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon sugar over the rhubarb of each tart. Fold overhanging Pastry over filling. Brush Pastry with butter. Repeat with remaining Fillo Pastry, butter, hazelnut mixture, pears and rhubarb to form 4 more tarts.
Place tarts on an oven tray. Bake 35 minutes or until golden. Dust with icing sugar and serve with ice cream or custard.