Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

Slice pears into medium sized pieces and place in an even layer on a baking sheet.

Sprinkle brown sugar and Chinese five spice blend over pears, mixing pears well by hand to make sure all the pears are evenly coated in the sugar and spice mixture.

Bake pears for 25 minutes.

While pears are baking, start making custard on the stove. In a medium sized sauce pan, combine cream, milk, only ¼ cup of sugar and vanilla paste.

Bring the cream mixture to a simmer over medium heat, stirring often, and let simmer for about 2 minutes. DO NOT LET IT BOIL. Remove from the heat and let it stand for about 20 minutes.

While cream mixture rests and flavors infuse, in a medium bowl whisk together the egg yolks and the remaining ¼ cup of sugar.

Next, temper egg mixture to prevent curdling by ladling some of the hot cream mixture into egg mixture. Whisk continuously to combine. Continue until the egg mixture is warm to the touch.

Once egg mixture is tempered, pour it into the sauce pan while whisking continuously. Return saucepan to the heat.

Continue cooking, whisking constantly, over medium heat until custard thickens and coats the back of a spoon (about 5 to 7 minutes.)

Once thickened, remove custard from heat and strain it through a sieve into a medium sized bowl. Immediately place the bowl into an ice bath to prevent overcooking and cool it down quickly.

By this point the pears should be soft and removed from oven. Place pears and pear juice from baking sheet into a blender.

Blend into a puree.

Pour pear puree into a bowl and also add to an ice bath to cool it down quickly.

Next, in a loaf pan, layer custard and pear puree. Swirl them together in between each layer with a knife. Do this until the custard and pear puree is gone.

Cover with foil, and place in the freezer overnight.