Start by peeling, de-coring and chopping your pears into small cubes. They don’t have to be perfect cubes. If they are similar sizes, this will allow them to cook at the same rate.

In a heavy bottom saucepan, add all your pear compote ingredients: chopped pears, lemon juice, sugar, water, allspice, cinnamon, cloves, and star anise.

On a high heat, bring the spiced pear mixture to a boil. Once boiling, turn your heat down to low and continue to simmer for 15-20 minutes or until pear pieces are very soft. Remove the saucepan from the heat and cover with the lid to cool.

Once cooled, remove cinnamon sticks, cloves, and star anise, then add compote to a blender. Blend until smooth, then store your compote in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to use. The compote will last in the fridge for up to 4 months.

Preheat your oven to 300°F, and prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium saucepan, heat the milk, sugar, and salt on medium heat. After 2 minutes add in the butter pieces and turn the heat to high. As soon as the mixture starts to bubble, remove from the heat and add the flour, mixing well to make sure all the flour has been mixed in thoroughly. Place the saucepan back on very low heat and press the mixture down with a spatula or wooden spoon to fully cover the bottom of the pan for 1 minute. Then, transfer the mixture into your stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment on a medium speed to start working the mixture as it cools. The mixture needs to cool to around body temp (98°F), otherwise it will start to cook the eggs when you add them.

Once cooled, add the eggs one at a time making sure they are completely mixed in before adding the next. After all the eggs have been added, do a final scrape of the bottom and sides of the bowl, then turn on your mixer to full speed for 2-3 minutes or until your choux is light in color (this is developing the gluten).

Finally place the mixture into a piping bag (we used a star tip) but any medium circle tip will be fine. On your prepared parchment paper, pipe your choux, trying to keep them all the same size to cook evenly.

Bake for 20 minutes at 300°F, then WITHOUT opening the oven, turn the temperature to 225°F and cook for another 20 minutes. Once done, remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Allow them to cool completely before filling.

Add all ingredients to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whisk on a high speed until you achieve stiff peaks. Place the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a star tip to pipe into your Cream Puffs.

Cut the choux buns in half. On the bottom half, pipe a small amount of whipped maple cream in a circle leaving a small well in the middle.

Using a teaspoon, place a small amount of pear compote into the well. Place the top half of the cream puff on top then dust with powdered sugar and serve.