Mini Pear Pies with Blue Cheese

It has been a while since I actually made these, but I took a short hiatus to crank some important stuff out elsewhere. I found this recipe online, at ShareMyKitchen.com. You can see the original here.

These were pretty darn simple to make and still left me feeling satisfied that I had actually put in work to make them so, unlike the times when I buy crescent dough and stick a slice of apple with butter and cinnamon in them. The pear pies were quite a satisfying dish to make, and even more so to eat. Although, I will say, blue cheese is apparently an acquired taste, which I found out the hard way (by piling it on in a huge mound atop my pear). To avoid the instinctual bodily reaction which I had in response to it, I advise you begin with just adding a little of the blue cheese mix, and go from there.

Mini Pear Pies with Blue Cheese
Serves 6 pies
Ingredients
Pies:
3 firm pears
Lemon juice from half lemon
Half box of ready made puff pastry, thawed
2-3 tbsp milk
Topping:
80-100 g blue cheese
1 tbsp bourbon
50 g walnuts

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 400°F
2. Line a baking pan with parchment paper.
3. Peel, half and seed the pears. Carve out a place for the topping with a teaspoon and save the carved pulp.
4. Brush the pears all over with lemon juice.
5. Place pears flat-side down on pan lined with parchment paper.
6. Cut 6 rectangles just larger than the pears from the thawed puff pastry. Place a piece of pastry over each pear and cut away excess with a sharp knife. Using knife, poke holes in pastry. From the excess, shape leaves and stems to add to each pear.
7. Brush pastry with milk.
8. Bake for 15-20 min or until golden brown.
9. Meanwhile, combine blue cheese, bourbon, and pureed (or smashed) peach pulp, stirring until well combined. Stir in half of walnuts.
10. When the pears are slightly cooled remove from pan, spoon on blue cheese spread and enjoy!