A few months ago I started seeing different flavors of Pate de Fruit tubs in most of my local grocery stores, which is kind of like a firm gel-like fruit paste, very popular in France. I started with plum earlier in the summer and moved onto pear and fig a month or so ago. I've been eating them so much, I decided to try my hand at making some myself. After a number of attempts and a lot of research to get the texture, consistency and flavor right, I finally hit on the right combination to share this morning. I originally worked with strained pears for the pear juice, which was quite a bit of work, and then dramatically simplified the recipe by using unsweetened 100% pure pear juice. Just make sure it doesn't have anything else in it except maybe ascorbic acid which is used to maintain the color. The brand I used was R.W. Knudsen, but I'm sure there are others just as good. I infused a rosemary flavor into the pear juice to add a little savory to the sweet since I like pair it with a nice cheddar cheese on a cracker. But if you aim towards a full-on sweet flavor, eliminate the rosemary and roll in fine granular sugar at the end. Oh, and did I mention this only takes about 30 minutes to make and 2 - 3 hours to completely set up? You'll need a candy thermometer, or one that goes to 225 F, but it's easy peasy! Your friends will think you worked all day on it. Serve as a light dessert or appetizer.

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