Variation: Beer-Poached Pear Cobbler

The snow drifts; it has no concept of space-time. The dogs sleep and wake throughout the day, all three of them in huddles and heads propped on the others' backs. They are all paws and tails when we come home, a mix of cries and nerves. 

We went to a charity dinner last night, for the ASPCA and Your Safe Haven. We spent the night at my parents' instead of driving home. And I missed it, the place in Ligonier that has a barn and field and where we've slept in the same bed for the last week. It's finally feeling like home, a transition I wasn't sure would happen so quickly. 

It's peaceful and quiet and I am left alone most days. I keep the TV off. I read in my spare time. A year ago it wouldn't have been like this. Here, I can forget the world and the past. Here, I have no concept of space-time myself and I can drift off into a sleep or pile up in a thousand blankets and take more moments for living instead of remembering.

Beer-Poached Pear Cobbler

This recipe is warm. It's beer and spiced pears and warm biscuits and cool cream. It's baked in cast iron and lasts for days. It's a variation, a riff from this cake and lovely in its complications and its delicacy.

Ingredients for Beer-Poached Pears:

• 4 pears, peeled, cored and halved
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup clover honey
• 1 vanilla bean, split in half
• 2 cup beer (I used Yuengling)
• 1 orange, juice and zest
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cup orange juice
• Pinch of salt
• 2 tablespoon ginger, peeled
• 1/4 cup AP flour

Ingredients for Biscuits and Cobbler:

• 1 1/2 cup AP flour
• 1/2 cup white sugar, extra for sprinkling
• 2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 6 TB unsalted butter, cold and cubed
• 3/4 cup buttermilk, cold
• 1 TB vanilla extract
• 2 TB candied ginger

Directions for Beer-Poached Pears:

1. In a medium saucepan, bring all ingredients (except the flour) to a boil
2. Reduce heat, simmer for 15 minutes or until just tender
3. Take off heat, remove pears
4. Put in a small mixing bowl and sprinkle with flour while it cools

Directions for Biscuits and Cobbler:

1. Preheat oven to 350*F
2. Prep your cast iron skillet with butter
3. Whisk together dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl
4. Using your hands, mix in butter by pinching into your dry ingredients until fat is the size of peas
5. Create a well in the center of your mixture with a wooden spoon and pour in buttermilk and vanilla extract
6. Stir until just mixed
7. Pour pears into pan and drop biscuit dough on top of pears
8. Sprinkle with a bit of sugar
9. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown

Assemble: Scoop out a pear with a bit of biscuit on top. Whisk together mascarpone or greek yogurt, a bit of honey, and some vanilla to top.