Steps

• Prepare the creamy filling: Pour the soy milk into a saucepan with the tea. Split the vanilla pod and scrape out the seeds, then add both the seeds and pod to the milk. Bring to a boil and then let it steep for 5 minutes off the heat. In a mixing bowl, combine the sugar and cornstarch and whisk thoroughly. Pour the hot milk over the mixture, whisking constantly. Once everything is smooth and well combined, pour it all back into the saucepan, straining it through a fine mesh sieve to remove the tea, vanilla pod, and any small lumps that may have formed. Cook the cream over medium heat, whisking constantly until it becomes thick and sticky. Allow it to cool (either in the fridge, stirring occasionally, or by using the whisk attachment on your mixer). Once the creamy filling has cooled, add the margarine and whisk until well combined (either with a mixer or by hand).
• Prepare the praline: Preheat the oven to 390°F. Crush the hazelnuts (and/or almonds) with a knife. Spread them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and roast in the oven for 10 minutes (stirring once or twice). Pour the sugar into a saucepan and melt over high heat to make a caramel (do not stir with a utensil). You can tilt the saucepan to mix the caramel evenly. When there is no longer any unmelted sugar, add the hazelnuts (and/or almonds) and stir well off the heat. Pour on parchment paper or a silicone baking mat to cool. When the caramel is hard, break it into pieces and put everything into your blender to obtain a praline powder. Melt the chocolate in the microwave with the soy cream, then add the praline powder.
• Prepare the shortbread: Put all the ingredients into your mixer and mix to form a dough. Roll out this dough into a long rectangle on a sheet of parchment paper. Bake for 15 minutes at 200°C (400°F). When you take the shortbread out of the oven, immediately trim the long sides of the log to have a clean cut (I made a rectangle of about 25cm (10 inches) long and 6cm (2.4 inches) wide). Roll your rolling pin over the warm shortbread to make it perfectly flat.
• Prepare the pears: peel them and cut them into small cubes. Cook them in a saucepan over low heat with a little water so that they become a compote.
• Assembling the yule log: On the shortbread, spread a thin layer of praline-chocolate using a spatula to smooth it out. Add some to the sides as well to create a well (you can check the diagram below, it'll be clearer 😉). Place the pears inside the well. Cover with creamy mixture (I used a spatula to cover the sides, and a piping bag for the top). Smooth the creamy mixture with a spatula to achieve a nice rounded shape, then add texture with small touches of the spatula all over.
• Finally, dip a knife in boiling water to slice off both ends of the log and achieve a nice, clean shape.
• To decorate, I sprinkled a bit of cinnamon ;)