Cinnamon-Merlot Roasted Pears

Dr. Jenny's Note:

DH and I made these as a dessert for a dinner party where we would be served Merlot. Everyone loved them. This is from my book, "The Wine Club" by Maureen Petrosky. I am posting the recipe as it is written, however, DH and I baked our pears, having already halved them, as we could not fit them into the 8X8X2-inch baking dish whole. This worked out fine. According to the recipe, these pears will serve 12 if halved, and 24 if cut into quarters.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 25 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs 15 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 12

• 6 large ripe bosc pears
• 1 cup merlot
• 1 cup cherry juice
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1⁄8; teaspoon salt
• ½ cup mascarpone cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F Peel pears, leaving stems intact. Cut a thin slice from the bottom of each pear and insert an apple corer; twist and pull to remove cores.
2. Combine Merlot, cherry juice, and cinnamon sticks in an 8x8x2-inch baking dish. Add pears. Bake for 45 to 60 minutes or until pears are tender, spooning liquid over pears every 15 minutes.
3. Reduce oven temperature to 200°F Remove pears from baking dish. Pour liquid into a saucepan; stir in sugar and salt.
4. Gently boil liquid for 10-12 minutes or until reduced to a syrup. Return pears to baking dish and keep warm in oven until ready to serve.
5. To serve 12, cut each pear in half; to serve 24, cut each pear into quarters. Drizzle syrup over pears; dollop with mascarpone cheese.

Reviews

[Leelee 76]

This was excellent...my son ate 4 of them alone and I took some to work making more tonight!

[evelyn/athens]

Yum! I cut this recipe in half to make 6 servings and used the excess poaching liquid I had from poaching pears in Poached Cherries. This was so good and I guess I needed an excuse to gobble up some mascarpone....