December 12, 2016

Mulled Wine Poached Pears

I’ve been in the mood for festive desserts that are heavy on flavor but still leave me feeling light on my feet. Fruits are the perfect dessert in this case as you get a bit of sweet decadence but won’t get overly full like you would with a dense cake or pie. These mulled wine poached pears are the perfect answer for any holiday season dessert.

Poached pears are super easy and look elegant among your holiday spread. The light spices in the mulled wine make for a very homey and enticingly fragrant house while the pears are poaching. Sliced in half, these poached pears look adorable with a luscious ring of red on the outside from absorbing the wine. The pears can then be stuffed with a small amount of blue cheese and walnuts or pecans to up the “fancy” factor. As an added bonus, you can strain and drink the leftover mulled wine used to poach these bits of deliciousness!

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

40 mins

Total time

50 mins

Author: Kari - CookingUpClean

Recipe type: Dessert

Serves: 6

Ingredients

3 pears
½ bottle red wine
2 cinnamon sticks
3 whole cloves
1 orange, zest and juice
½ teaspoon cardamom
1 vanilla bean, scraped
⅓ cup honey
2 tablespoons walnuts or pecans, chopped
2 tablespoons blue cheese (or goat cheese works nicely too)
Mint sprigs, for garnish (optional)

Instructions

In a saucepan, combine wine, honey and spices and heat over medium heat.
Peel the pears and place into the mulled wine.
Simmer uncovered about 40 minutes until pears are fork tender. Turn pears occasional so they cook and color evenly on all sides.
Remove pears from wine and let cool. You can keep the wine to drink as mulled wine by straining the whole spices out first. Serve wine hot or at room temperature.
Slice pears into halves and scoop out the seeds with a melon baller or tablespoon.
Sprinkle a small amount of blue cheese and walnuts into each pear and serve with a little drizzle of the mulled wine.
Garnish with mint leaves or thyme sprigs if desired.
You can make a thicker "sauce" for the pears by continuing to simmer the wine until is has reduced enough to a syrup consistency.

Notes

If you wish to have extra mulled wine for drinking, just double all of the ingredients except the pears!

Nutrition Information

Serving size: ½ pear Calories: 182 Fat: 2g Carbohydrates: 32g Sodium: 37mg Fiber: 3g Protein: 2g