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Smashbox by the chef: Anna Le Saux's poetic dessert

One month ago, we introduced The Smashbox together with Bellerose. We hope you had a lot of fun smashing and sharing it. But there's actually much more you can do with 3 giant biscuits and a little hammer. To prove it, we've asked 4 of our favorite chefs from Brussels to create a recipe with the Smashbox. And they've taken it pretty seriously.

Anna Le Saux is the pastry chef of Villa Lorraine Traiteur, so she obviously decided to create a dessert for us! She made ricotta and honey whipped cream and sage poached pears with Dandoy Speculoos. A light and elegant dish that is as pretty as it is easy to prepare.

Anna Le Saux Smashbox Bellerose Maison Dandoy 1

Ricotta and honey whipped cream and sage poached pears with Dandoy Speculoos

Ingredients

Ricotta & honey whipped cream:

  • 100g heavy cream (40% butterfat)
  • 100g ricotta
  • 10g honey

Speculoos biscuit:

  • 30g speculoos (for her recipe, Anna chose the classic version from de Smashbox)
  • 45g honey

Syrup for poached pears:

  • 300g water
  • 50g honey
  • 8g dried sage

Preparation

Syrup:

The night before, heat up water and honey in a saucepan. Place dried sage inside a tea filter and add to the pan. Add pear slices, cover and infuse overnight.

Anna Le Saux Smashbox Bellerose Maison Dandoy 2
Anna Le Saux Smashbox Bellerose Maison Dandoy 3

Whipped cream:

Whisk ricotta, cream and honey on high-speed until it gets slightly stiff. Pour cream into a pastry bag fitted with a number 10 tip.

Anna Le Saux Smashbox Bellerose Maison Dandoy 4
Anna Le Saux Smashbox Bellerose Maison Dandoy 5

Biscuit:

Turn Dandoy speculoos biscuits into fine crumbs and mix with honey. Roll out the dough into a thin layer on a baking mat. Bake at 160C°(320°F) for 6 minutes. As soon as you remove the dough from the oven, cut out 3-4 cm diameter circles. Store in a dry place as the biscuits will become too soft in a humid environment.

Anna Le Saux Smashbox Bellerose Maison Dandoy 6
Anna Le Saux Smashbox Bellerose Maison Dandoy 7

Plating:

Place speculoos crumbs on the plate. Add small amounts of ricotta whipped cream. Place biscuits and poached pears in staggered rows. Top with sage leaves and small pieces of speculoos.

Anna Le Saux Smashbox Bellerose Maison Dandoy 8
Anna Le Saux Smashbox Bellerose Maison Dandoy 9

PS: You can also serve this recipe as a verrine. Simply place poached pears at the bottom, add ricotta whipped cream and top with speculoos crumbs and sage leaves.

La Villa Lorraine Traiteur

Place Dumon 8, 1150 Woluwe-Saint-Pierre
Tel.: +32 (0)2 772 77 79
Open from Monday to Saturday from 10h to 19h30.
Closed on Sunday.

Chaussée de Waterloo 1095, 1180 Uccle
Tel.: +32 (0)2 511 44 83

Open from Monday to Saturday from 10h to 19h30.
Closed on Sunday

Carré Gomand 4, 1380 Lasne
Tel.: +32 (0)2 653 56 23
Open from Tuesday to Saturday from 10h to 19h30.
Sunday and holidays from 9h to 15h.

Place Georges Brugmann 3, 1050 Ixelles
Tel.: +32 (0)2 347 77 29
Open from Monday to Sunday from 8h to 19h30.