Baked Pears
Enjoy the fall season with these caramelized baked pears. Pears are perfectly baked to be tender and have a core of crunchy walnuts. Fall flavors like maple syrup give a smooth sweetness, and cinnamon adds a hint of spice. Enjoy it with a scoop of ice cream.
Baked pears with caramel sauce have turned out to be an excellent dessert. Fall, the season of apples and pears, is the best time to enjoy this delicious dish. The caramelized sauce is made with butter, maple syrup, brown sugar, and cinnamon.
Maple syrup and cinnamon are atypical fall flavors. Maple syrup gives a neutral sweet taste and is preferred over honey. Cinnamon has a mild spice flavor and elevates the dish to balance the flavors.
To get the best out of baking pears, choose a suitable variety. More acidic and tart varieties of pears, which are firm to the touch and just ripe enough to be enjoyed, are the best to bake. Upon cooking, they still stay firm and hold their shape.
The more tart the pears, the more pectin the variety has. Pectin is the chemical glue that holds the shape and texture of fruits.
I have another pears recipe which has a yummy spiced cranberry sauce in which the pears the poached. Checkout – Pears poached in spiced cranberry juice.
Ingredients
Pear – The firm and slightly tart varieties are the best. The pears should be slightly sweet but firm to the touch. I had got Bosc variety, but Anjou would do equally well.
Chopped walnut – walnuts, like pecan, offer a crunchy and nutty taste when put on top of the baked pears. Walnuts are more affordable and easily available.
Brown sugar – Sugar provides sweetness to the dish and does some chemical kamikaze when the pears are cooked. Sugar helps draw away the water leaving the pectin to dissolve slowly and give that jelly-like stuff everywhere, which makes eating the cooked fruits, worth it.
Melted butter – the source of fat to cook everything.
Ground cinnamon – Cinnamon and nutmeg give sweet and spice notes synonymous with fall.
Maple Syrup – get a good quality that will surely make a difference.
Pinch of nutmeg – for that hint of spiciness
Pinch of salt – to balance the flavors.
How to bake pears
Prep the pears – Preheat the oven. Wash and cut the pears into half lengthwise. You may prefer to keep the stem as it gives it a whole look. You need to spoon out the core, including the seeds.
Fill the pear – Next step is to fill the pear with a mix of butter and the rest of the ingredients. First, mix butter with cinnamon. Now, brush the cut side of the pear with the butter mix.
To the butter mixture, add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Use a spoon to fill the core of the pears with the mixture. Refer to the video for help.
Bake – pour boiling water around the pears and bake them for 30 minutes, covered with foil. After that, remove the foil and bake for another 10 minutes. Take out the warm, soft, delicious pears and serve with ice cream and caramel sauce.
Store
You can freeze these baked pears in a zip-lock air-tight bag, but cooked pears are not great for freezing. They are best enjoyed freshly baked. Baked pears, when defrosted, become very soft and lose texture.
Refrigerating them also might make them soft over time as they have the caramelized sauce and the butter mix. For a little while, it is not much of a problem.
You can always microwave and serve them.
Serve With
Warm, delicious caramelized baked pears with a dollop of ice cream or yogurt on top is a great dessert during fall.
Related Recipes
Want to look at some other recipes which have apples you would love making these in the fall?
Eggless Apple Peanut Butter Microwave Mug Cake
Apple Turnovers with Coffee Glaze
Baked Pears Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 pear
- ¾ cup chopped walnut
- ⅓ cup brown sugar
- ⅓ cup melted butter
- 1 teaspoon Ground cinnamon
- 2 tablespoon Maple Syrup
- pinch of nutmeg
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
- Cut pears into half lengthwise. Keep the stem on if possible.
- Use a melon scoop or a spoon, to remove the seed and core. Cut a small slice off the underside so that the pear halves stay flat when kept on the baking tray.
- Mix melted butter and ground cinnamon. Brush the cut end of the pear with the melted butter mixture.
- To the remaining butter mixture add chopped walnuts, brown sugar, maple syrup, nutmeg, and salt. Mix well.
- Fill the center cavity of the pears with a heaping tablespoon of walnut mixture.
- Pour 1/4 cup boiling water around the pears.
- Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake it for 30 minutes.
- Remove the foil and bake it for another 10-12 minutes.
- Serve warm with ice cream and caramel sauce.
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