May 12, 2010

Vanilla Baked Pears

breakfast/brunch, dessert, pears

Presented by

53 ratings

Prep time: 19 minutes
baking time 15 minutes
Servings: 8

I loved the crunchy, creamy topping and the sweet vanilla scent of these pears.

Ingredients

1 (29-ounce) can pear halves in juice, drained
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1

Preheat the broiler. Place rack 4 inches from heat.
2

Arrange pears, cut side up, in an 8 × 8-inch baking pan. Sprinkle pears with granulated sugar and dot with butter.
3

Broil the pears until browned, about 8 to 10 minutes, rotating pan if needed for even browning.
4

Turn off the broiler. Remove pan from oven. Move rack to middle of oven. Turn the oven temperature to 375ºF.
5

Combine whipping cream and vanilla extract in a small bowl and mix well. Spoon over pears.
6

Bake until sauce is browned and bubbly, about 15 minutes. Transfer pears to individual serving bowls. Whisk sauce in baking pan until smooth. Spoon sauce over pears.

Grandma's Secret Trick

Grandma loved vanilla so much that she often purchased vanilla beans when she could find them. To use them in this recipe, she split a vanilla bean lengthwise and scraped out the tiny seeds into the whipping cream. The flavor had more dimensions than vanilla extract, and the vanilla was amazingly fresh tasting.