Blue Cheese Walnut Biscuits with Pears and Cream

This has been on my radar for a while and I really wanted to try it. Just for the biscuits! Of course, I love pears with blue cheese, but the walnut blue cheese biscuits looked fabulous and I could think of a number of fruits you could use in this dish. Gail at Pastry Studio usually hits the flavor nail on the head, so I made it her way the first time. These biscuits are so scrumptious, I'll be making them over and over. 

Blue Cheese Walnut Biscuits with Pears and Cream
From :Pastry Studio

Ingredients:
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons water
1 – 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice, to taste
3 - 4 fresh ripe Bartlett pears

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour
pinch to 1/8 t salt
3 tablespoons sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder 
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup toasted walnuts 
2 oz (4 T) cold butter, cut into small pieces
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons blue cheese, crumbled into small pieces 
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons cold buttermilk

Ingredients for the biscuit topping: 
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons toasted walnuts, chopped fine
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 tablespoon butter, melted

1 cup heavy cream for serving

Method:
For the pears: combine the honey and water in a saucepan and simmer to dissolve. Add the lemon juice and remove from heat. Peel, core and slice the pears and place in the honey syrup as you go to prevent browning. Return to low and gently simmer for a few minutes or until tender. Set aside to cool, spooning the syrup over the fruit every now and then to coat.

For the biscuits:
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment.

Chop 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons of the toasted walnuts, add 1 tablespoon sugar. Mix and set aside. Melt 1/2 tablespoon of butter and set aside.

Place the flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and 1/3 cup of toasted walnuts in the bowl of a food processor and process until the walnuts are finely ground. Add the cold butter pieces and the crumbled blue cheese and pulse in short bursts about 10 times. Do not overmix. Add the buttermilk all at once and pulse another 10 times. The mixture should look like very coarse meal rather than clumps of dough.

Pour the mixture onto some parchment and, patting and pressing, pull it together with your hands. Do not knead. Shape it into a round about 3/4” thick. Use a 2 1/2” round cutter dipped in flour to cut out 6 biscuits. Place them on the parchment-lined baking sheet at least 2” apart. Brush the tops with the reserved melted butter and sprinkle with the walnut sugar mixture, pressing down gently to secure the nuts. Bake about 13-15 minutes, until the biscuits are lightly golden. Cool completely before handling, they crumble easily.

To serve: Whip the cream to a very soft peak. Cut the biscuits in half horizontally. Dollop with some whipped cream, layer with pears and garnish with plenty of syrup. I used a half pear with one biscuit and sliced the pears with the other.