Poached Pears with Caramel Sauce

By sadams1001

The pears for this silky, seductive dessert can be made a day ahead and refrigerated in their cooking liquid. the caramel sauce, too, can be made three to four days ahead, and stored in an airtight container. just reheat in a bowl set over a pot of hot water. Be careful making the caramel sauce; once it begins to brown, it can burn quickly and it is very hot, so take care not to spill it.

Ingredients

• Pears:
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3 (1/4-inch) slices peeled ginger
• 1 (2-inch length) vanilla bean
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3 ripe pears (about 1/2 pound each), peeled
• Caramel Sauce:
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Details

Servings 6

Preparation

Step 1

Pears:
Combine the water, wine, honey, sugar, ginger, vanilla bean, and cinnamon in a saucepan small enough to submerge the pears in the liquid. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Add the pears and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Decrease the heat to low and cook on a low simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the pears are tender. Let cool in the liquid.

Sauce:
Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan over high heat. Bring to a boil and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until dark brown, gently swirling the pan occasionally to evenly distribute the heat. Remove from the heat, add the cream carefully (it will bubble up), and stir vigorously until the mixture stops bubbling. Transfer to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate.

Cut the pears in half, remove the core, and cut each half into thin slices, keeping th etop intact. Fan out each pear half on a plate and drizzle with the caramel sauce.