Cranberry-Orange Cheesecake Pears
- Ready In:
- 40mins
- Ingredients:
- 11
- Yields:
-
10 stuffed pears
- Serves:
- 10
ingredients
-
PEARS
- 10 bosc pears
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 2 cups 100% cranberry juice
- 2 cups orange juice
- 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
-
CHEESECAKE STUFFING
- 1 cup light cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1⁄2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1⁄8 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
- 1⁄3 cup unsweetened dried cranberries
- 1⁄2 cup unsalted almonds, sliced and toasted
directions
-
PREPARE PEARS:
- Peel pears. Trim bottoms so that they sit flat. Using a small spoon or a melon baller, scoop out and discard cores.
- Place pears in a very large, wide, heavy-bottomed saucepan. Add cinnamon sticks and juices.
- Scrape out seeds from vanilla bean and stir in; add scraped bean husks, too.
- Bring to a boil, then reduce heat. Cover and simmer, occasionally turning pears over carefully to ensure even cooking, until almost tender but still a little firm, about 20-25 minutes.
-
PREPARE CHEESECAKE STUFFING:
- In a bowl, stir cream cheese with vanilla extract, ginger and almond extract (if using) until mixed. If the mixture is too thick to stir easily, add a few spoonfuls of hot pear cooking liquid. (The sauce mixture up to this point may be made up to 3 days ahead and refrigerated.).
- Stir in cranberries and almonds.
-
STUFF PEARS:
- Carefully spoon pears onto a large platter. Cover and refrigerate to cool completely.
- Boil remaining pear liquid in pan, stirring often, until it reduces to 1/2 cup. The sauce will foam and bubble toward the end of cooking, so be sure to stir often.
- Remove from heat and discard cinnamon sticks and vanilla husks. (Up to this point, pears and sauce can be made the night before.).
- To serve, fill pears with cream cheese mixture. (Stuffed pears may be refrigerated up to 6 hours before serving. Allow pears and sauce to come to room temperature before serving.).
- Place on plates and spoon sauce over the top.
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
KateL
Joppa, Maryland
I love to eat yummy healthy foods!