I wanted to try another ingredient from my 2014 Food Trends article. This time I wanted to use Asian influence in my baking. My spice cupboard is overflowing but they are usually used is savoury dishes, not sweet ones. To change that I came up with this lovely dish of Dark Chocolate Star Anise and Pear Spring Rolls















I have an abundance of Star Anise at the moment due to the fact on my last visit out to Dubai I spent a lot of time in the Spice Souk. If you love spices this is a must visit destination! I picked up loads of star anise, cinnamon sticks and quite a bit of saffron but to name a few.















Star Anise

As I was attempting to create an Asian inspired dish I wanted to use the star anise in particular and wrap it all up to look like a spring roll. Star anise tastes like aniseed, it’s not for everyone but when used to subtly flavour a dish it can be heavenly.















To keep the dish sweet I used a lovely ripe pear and then to give it a lovely twist I added good quality dark chocolate chips. Sublime flavour combination all wrapped up in filo pastry with a little cinnamon sugar on top 🙂

Dessert or Finger Food?

These will make wonderful finger food nibbles for a buffet or part of a indulgent dessert, served with a good quality vanilla ice cream or even fresh cream if you prefer.















Dark Chocolate

I did make these with both milk and white chocolate but they were best with a good quality dark chocolate. The bitter sweet flavour of the chocolate paired perfectly with the subtle star anise flavour and the pear just bought it all together.















I made a pear ‘jam’ to fill these with, it’s not a real jam more of a thick compote. I just chopped the pear up into small chunks cooked it down with a little water and sugar and mixed in a little cornflour (cornstarch) to thicken it up.















I cooked the pear first so that it would be soft and remain that way so these treats could be enjoyed hot or cold and the fruit wouldn’t be hard and crispy.















This recipe only makes 6 small spring rolls, but the recipe can easily be doubled, tripled or even quadrupled to accommodate more servings. These 6 are perfect for 2 or 3 people or one very greedy person 😀