Braised Pears in a Caramel Sauce

| September 18, 2011

Episode 112: Fruit Fete
Recipe: Braised Pears in a Caramel Sauce

Sprinkling pears with sugar helps draw out their juices and makes a natural caramel. Depending on the ripeness of the pears, you may need to modify the cooking time so they are tender at the same time as the juice and sugar have caramelized.

Braised Pears in a Caramel Sauce

Serves 6

6 medium Anjou or Bartlett pears (not too ripe)
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons crushed pistachios

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Peel the pears, split them lengthwise, and remove the cores. Arrange the flat side down in one layer in a large gratin dish. Sprinkle the sugar on top.

Bake for about 35 minutes. By this time, the sugar should have dissolved in the pear juices and cooked into a caramel and the pears should be tender when pierced with the point of a knife. If the pears are still hard, cook for another 5 or 10 minutes. If the sugar is caramelized but the pears are not cooked, add 1/2 cup water to prevent the caramel from burning during this extra cooking period. On the other hand, if the pears are cooked through before the syrup is caramelized, remove the fruit to a plate and reduce the juice on top of the stove until it caramelizes.

Add the cream to the dish and bake for 10 to 15 minutes longer, basting the pears every 5 minutes. The sauce should have reduced and thickened and be a nice ivory color. (Cooking the caramel with the cream will form a rich and delicious sauce.) Let cool. The sauce will thicken.

Serve the pears cool at room temperature, with the sauce on top, sprinkled with the pistachios.

Copyright © 2011 by Jacques Pépin. Used by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.

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Category: dessert, fruit, Recipes

About the Author ()

I was the Senior Digital Producer for KQED Food up until July, 2018.  Since 2001, I designed, produced, managed and contributed to mostly food-related websites and blogs for KQED including: KQED.org; KQED Food; Bay Area Bites; Check, Please! Bay Area;  Taste This; Celebrity Chefs; seven of Jacques Pepin's TV series websites; and Joanne Weir's Cooking in the City. I initiated the majority of KQED Food's social media feeds and maintained them up until 2017.  As far as content creation,  photography is my passion and I also shoot video and write stories. My photos have been used in articles for KQED Food, News, Arts, and Science as well as for promotional purposes in print and online. Professional education and training includes: clinical psychology, photography, commercial cooking, web design, information architecture and UX.

Comments (11)

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  1. Michelle says:

    I don’t use diary products. Is it possible to substitute the heavy cream for coconut cream?

    • Rebecca says:

      If you like using coconut, then I would recommend full-fat coconut milk, not the coconut cream.

  2. Jackie says:

    Any reason why you could not substitute apples for the pears?

  3. Anonymous says:

    Wonderful! Jacques, you “done” it again!

  4. Rlinzki says:

    Thank you Jacques for sharing this easy and very, very good dessert.

  5. Paul Ashlin says:

    Superb. So easy to follow your directions, and produce an impressive dessert.

  6. I have a diary intolerance so used coconut cream. I also used coconut palm sugar – delicious!!!!

  7. D Howell says:

    I saw this prepared on CreateTV last night and my husband and I decided to try it. It was heavenly. I used some asian pears that I had. they were flavorless but sugared and creamed up…they were great! Thanks for this great and easy recipe!

  8. boysenberry says:

    Excellent!
    I am glad I found this recipe. I watched him make the other night.
    Merci!

  9. Erica Mueller says:

    425F is too hot for brown sugar. It will burn before you know it.