Vanilla Roasted Pears

These vanilla-infused pears were tender, fragrant, and totally satisfied my sweet tooth. I found the recipe on the blog of An Edible Mosaic, whose author, Faith Gorsky, has a cookbook being published this fall. I used a combination of Bosc and Red pears, and I found the Bosc to be superior for baking because they were tender yet retained their firmness. The red pears, while delicious, were almost reduced to sauce.

I barely changed the recipe, using lime juice in place of lemon (simply because that's what I had), salted butter (because I always think sweet needs just a touch of salt), and a whisper of cinnamon.

Vanilla Roasted Pears
adapted from the blog of An Edible Mosaic
Serves 4 to 6

2 tablespoons white sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise and seeds scraped out
6 medium (about 2 lb) pears, any firm variety
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons salted butter, diced
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375F. Spray baking dish with cooking spray. Combine sugars and vanilla seeds in small bowl and set aside; reserve vanilla pod.

Peel pears or leave them unpeeled if the skin is unblemished; cut in half lengthwise, scoop out core. Arrange pears cut side up in baking dish.

Drizzle lemon juice over pears, dot tops with butter, and sprinkle on cinnamon. Pour water into dish and place vanilla pod in bottom.

Roast until pears are tender and caramelized and sauce is slightly thickened, about 35 minutes, depending on ripeness of pears. Flip pears midway through baking and occasionally basted wotj juices from bottom of baking dish.

Pour pan juices into small pitcher and serve with pears.

I saved my leftovers and pureed them to use in muffins, which I will blog about later this week.

An Edible Mosaic