These are the last of last year’s pears, and I wanted to treat them delicately. They slow-roasted in a bath of spiced Mexican vanilla syrup for hours until they became soft like butter, and I have been eating them both for dessert and, sometimes, even for breakfast, with a scoop of greek yogurt on the side.
After you’re doing roasting these Mexican vanilla pears (and you don’t really have to do all that much in the process), you can reduce the remaining syrup to make it thicker and extra sumptuous for spooning over pears, yogurt, or ice cream.
Why Mexican vanilla? When I was in Mexico City last summer, my friend Valerie and I took a class to learn how to make conches, these delicious Mexican sweet buns.
Our instructor, Eliceo, used local Mexican vanilla extract and recommended that we purchase some before heading back to the US as it is high quality, but fairly affordable. And, let me tell you, it packs a punch of real vanilla flavor. The scent of these vanilla pears filled the whole apartment with pure fruit sweetness.
- 4 Bosc pears
- 6 cups water
- 4 tablespoons of honey
- 1 vanilla pod (scrape out the beans)
- 8 whole cloves
- 2 whole star anise
- butter for pan
- Preheat oven to 350F. Butter a deep baking pan.
- Core out the bottom of each pear and put a teaspoon of honey inside.
- Place pears right side up in the baking pan. Pour water into the pan and drizzle the remaining honey all over the pears. Put the cloves into the flesh of the pears carefully. Put the star anise and vanilla in the water.
- Roast the pears in the oven for about 2.5 hours. Remembering to baste them with the syrup every 15-20 minutes.
- Transfer the pears out of the baking pan and cool. Reduce the syrup, if desired, in a saucepan on medium heat. Pour it over the pears and serve them chilled.
Slow roasted pears, now what a delicious way to start or end the day.
Thank you, Karen! They require very little work too whether in the morning or at night 🙂
This was exquisite and smelled of perfume :). Taste was a delicate kiss of Autumn. Loved these.
So happy to hear that!