Simple Poached Pears Drizzled in Dark Chocolate

If you’re anything like me, you have invited family and friends over to celebrate you being a terrible introvert and realized that ringing in the New Year completely solo might not be the best thing for both you and your liver.

Kidding, If you are anything like me then you will just think about how you should be inviting people over and ask for “pre-forgiveness” from you liver as you know the night ahead may not be a very clear headed evening (my son is not with me or else we would be watching tons of disney and drinking delicious chocolate milk. But maybe mommys milk would have some baileys in it.)

So if i was having the pretend party that I probably ‘should’ be having and knowing how incredibly last minute I am (which as I have gotten older has only gotten a helluva lot worse) making food needs to be easy. But also fancy-like. Something that sounds fancy but really is as simple as wiping my own ass. Poached pears. Simple poached pears drizzled in delicious melted chocolate. 

First off. I chose poached pears because I KNOW whatever dessert I’m going to make there are going to be leftovers. Not because it sucks. But because I tend to overeat on the good salty grub and always leave very very little room for dessert. Also because I usually forget about dessert until people are heading out the door and i’m like ohhhhhhhhhh no. I can’t believe you are going to make me eat all of this on my own. ‘Whoops’….. My bad (said no one ever, I’m usually giving myself a high five). 

But I also know that since I’ll probably be left over (hypothetically speaking) with some of my dessert that I don’t want to feel incredibly regretful the next day post consumption. And what’s the point to New Years aside from weight loss goals? I mean, like, come on? 99.9 percent of the goals revolve around food/weight in one way then another. So I want to feel halfway decent about what I’m consuming. This is where the whole pear bit comes in…….

Poached pears with heart healthy dark chocolate =) In fact. I am literally tossing chocolate bits into my mouth right now and missing terribly. New Years Goal Numero Dos. Stop eating in bed. Next years goals: Stop drinking in bed which is causing you to eat in bed. 

Happy New Year. Hip Hip Hooray!

Recipe Notes:

You may use any pear you like! I used bosc pears mainly because I love the stem shape. Weird right? But when you take pictures of food you have to kind of look at some ingredients that way…..

Stick with bar chocolate. I like to use Ghirardelli for basically all of my chocolate because I feel like it melts the best. Chocolate chips are basically engineered to NOT melt, making it much harder. High quality chocolate tastes the best. Also the reason for the coconut oil in the sauce (not for flavor) is that it not only makes the chocolate shiny but it actually makes it MUCH easier to drizzle. You may sub vegetable oil. 

You may make these up to two days before consumption. Just wait to drizzle chocolate on right before serving. 

By poaching the pears whole, it actually completely softens the core/seeds making them totally edible. This cuts out the whole scooping out the middle work which is more convenient.

I suggest that you DO use the left over syrup to make the most deliciously tasting Hot Toddy in the ENTIRE world. Seriously. I did this. So I can confirm that it was/is the best tasting Toddy that you will ever consume on the face of the planet. You can also make it a virgin toddy. Booooooooring. But I mean for all of you “i’m giving up alcohol in the new year” weirdos this might taste really really good too.

Simple Poached Pears Drizzled in Dark Chocolate

Prep time:  5 mins

Cook time:  30 mins

Total time:  35 mins

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Ingredients

• 4 pears, peeled
• 4 cups water
• 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
• ¼ cup honey
• 1 tsp vanilla
• ¼ tsp allspice
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• For the Sauce:
• 4 oz chocolate bar
• 1 tbsp heavy cream
• 1 tsp coconut oil

Instructions

1. Fill a medium sized pot with water, brown sugar, honey, vanilla, allspice & cinnamon. Bring to a boil and add your peeled pears. Bring to a boil and then turn heat down to medium and let pears poach for about 30 minutes or until softened, stirring occasionally.
2. Keep a close eye the last ten minutes as you don't want your pears to be mushy. You want them to be easily pierced with a sharp knife.
3. Once softened, remove pears from heat and set aside in a bowl. Bring heat back up medium high and boil the spiced liquid for about 5-10 minutes until it begins to thicken and turn into more of a syrup. Remove from heat and as the liquid begins to cool it will thicken even more.
4. While liquid is beginning to cool heat your chocolate in a heat proof bowl over boiling water (unless you have a microwave.....) and as the chocolate is melting add your cream & coconut oil. Mix together and continue to heat until chocolate is fully melted. Remove from heat and set aside.
5. Next for serving, pour a little syrup on plate, place pears on top, and then drizzle the melted chocolate. Serve alone or with ice cream.

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This is one way for me to ruin a picture. Oops. I need more friends.