pear + coconut

Whoa, that's a better picture of a doughnut, right?! Big thanks to my professional photographer uncle for teaching me the ways of the lightbox effect. I asked him questions regarding making the pictures of my doughnuts look better and more appealing. He told me that I should build or buy a lightbox, which diffuses light from multiple sides to give your product a warm, bright glow. I looked up how to make it on my own and got to work. The difference is amazing.

I know you're not here for a dazzling introduction on the magic of using light to your advantage while taking pictures. You're here for the doughnuts.

First, I have a confession. I hate coconut. I'm working on it, I can tolerate it a bit better now as my palate is changing, but I've never been fond of the stuff. Let me take you back to where it all started..,

Hawaiian Coconut Syrup -
Found at World Market

Kindergarten. It was 2003 and I was just five years old. All of the classrooms on my preschool hall had a food theme. There was a strawberry class, a peach class, you get the idea. I, however, was in the coconut class. Each class also got to try a bunch of treats centered around their food theme. The strawberry class got to much on some delicious strawberries, the peach class enjoyed succulent peaches and the coconut class? A bunch of different coconut items. Coconut milk, shredded coconut and candy bars with coconut in them. I was appalled by the taste. I hated it so much that I spit it out and didn't give it a chance for another 10 years.

Dried Asian
Pear Crisps

As I said before, I've been working on trying to enjoy coconut. Pairing it with things I love makes it a bit easier, and that's where the asian pears come in. So, without further ado, here's the recipe for my pear and coconut doughnut.

This recipe uses a brioche doughnut base. The recipe can be found here.

for the glaze:

1/2 cup coconut syrup
1 tsp pear extract
1 tbsp milk
2 cups powdered sugar

Mix all of the ingredients together until smooth and set aside for later use.

for the toppings:
freeze dried asian pear slices
sweetened coconut shavings
fresh cut cubed asian pear

Crush the freeze dried asian pear slices until powdery and top the doughnut with it. Then, sprinkle shaved coconut on the top as well as the asian pear cubes.

Here's a printable version of this recipe!

There you have it! 'Til next time,