[Foodie Friday Recipe] Holiday Spiced Poached Pears

Rose S. | December 21, 2018 | Real Food Recipes

These delectable spiced poached pears make the perfect fancy dessert for your holiday table!

Isn’t there just something so classic and decadent about poached pears for Christmas? They just seem like such a luxurious dessert, though they are surprisingly simple to make – and healthier than most! They also look super fancy on your holiday dessert table, and there is a wide variety of ways to serve them – drizzled with cream, a-la mode, stewed with wine, wrapped in crepes – use your imagination to make this delectable dessert your own.

The key to perfect poached pears is to let them sit in the spiced syrup for a substantial period of time to allow all of the wonderful flavors to marry harmoniously. This makes them a great make-ahead dessert, so you can prepare them the day before, and they’ll make the perfect follow up to Christmas dinner – with virtually no effort!

Holiday Spiced Poached Pears Recipe

Serves: 4
Time: 15 min. prep time + 2 hrs cook time

Ingredients:

4 medium pears (firm pears like Bosc work best)
10 cardamom pods
320 g caster sugar
½ a vanilla pod
100 mg saffron
1 small stick of cinnamon

Instructions:

Peel the pears, leaving the stalk intact. Crush the cardamom pods.
Combine all the ingredients in a saucepan with 1 litre of water, bring to a simmer and gently poach the pears for about 2 hours or until tender. Remove from the heat, allow to cool, then refrigerate overnight to steep.
Before serving, remove the pears and set aside to bring to room temperature.
Boil the syrup until reduced to a sticky glaze, about 250ml. Drizzle about 2 tablespoons of saffron spiced glaze over the pears, then serve with ice cream or cream – as desired.