BAKED PEARS WITH CURRANTS, CRANBERRIES, & PECANS

I started making this dessert from Bon Appetit a few years ago for holiday family gatherings.  It's easy, flexible, delicious, & perfect when food allergies or Celiac disease are an issue.  It's a great dessert, but it also is wonderful with oatmeal for breakfast.  I always make a few extra so that I can have breakfast pears!  The version I'm posting contains pecans, but typically I do not use nuts in this recipe.   

INGREDIENTS (yield = 6 pears)

6 ripe but firm pears (I prefer Anjou, but any pear will do), rinsed

1/2 cup turbinado sugar (or white)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup mixture of currants & cranberries (or whatever you prefer)

~1/4 cup pecans, chopped

1 1/2 tsp nutmeg, freshly grated if you have it (or use any mix of cinnamon, clove, all spice, nutmeg)

1/2 cup (or more) water

PREPARATION

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2.  Mix the sugars, dried fruit(s), pecans (if using) & spices in a bowl.

3.  Cut the bottoms of the pears off so they will stand up straight.


4.  Using an apple corer, remove the stem & seeds from the bottom of the pear. 

5.  Fill the pear cavities with the sugar mixture.  A grapefruit spoon works excellently if you have one.

6.  Once filled, carefully stand the pear up in a baking dish.  Repeat with the other pears.

7.  Add 1/2 cup water to the remaining sugar mixture & stir well.  Pour it over the pears.

8.  Place in the oven, uncovered, for 50 minutes or until the pears are soft & the sauce is syrupy.  Baste the pears occasionally.  If the sauce is too thick, add a little water as it cooks.

SUGGESTIONS

• For dessert, serve with ice cream.  I served this with homemade ginger gelato & nutmeg-honey gelato last year.  The pears are great with vanilla, too.

• For breakfast, chop a pear & add it to oatmeal, yogurt, or cottage cheese.  
• Eat it by itself!
• I haven't tried it yet, but honey, maple syrup, or ginger syrup could all be plain sugar alternatives.  Most of the sugar sits in the syrup, so limit how much syrup you top the pear with if you are concerned about sugar intake.
• Omit the pecans if you don't want nuts
• Add some orange zest &/or a little vanilla extract to the sugar/fruit mixture.
• If you try this with apples, check on them frequently.  Apples cook faster than pears.  

Following Eat Right For Your Type?  Click here to jump to Dr. D'Adamo's Typebase Index to see how the ingredients in this recipe work for you.
Do you want to learn more about the Blood Type Diet?  See the links I have posted in the left column of this site under the heading "Learn More About the Blood Type Diet."

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