Vegan Baked Pears with Cardamom and Pine Nuts
A fruit dessert that's simple yet sophisticated
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Warm or chilled, these lightly spiced baked pears make a luscious fruit dessert. If you don’t have ground cardamom on hand, try sprinkling the pear halves with nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, or allspice for a different flavor twist.
Ingredients
- 1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
- 1/4 cup white wine
- 1/2 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise
- 2 firm ripe pears, such as Comice or Anjou, halved and seeded
- 1 1/2 Tbs. lemon juice
- 2 Tbs. sugar
- 1 tsp. nonhydrogenated vegan margarine, such as Earth Balance, cut into 4 pieces
- 2 Tbs. pine nuts, optional
Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Place one oven rack in top of oven and one in middle of oven.
2. In an 8-inch square baking dish, combine wine, cardamom, and white pepper, if using. Scrape vanilla bean seeds into wine mixture, and add scraped pod.
3. Place pears cut-side up in baking dish. Pour lemon juice over pears, allowing excess to spill over. Sprinkle with sugar, and top each pear half with margarine piece. Cover pan with foil, place on middle rack in oven, and bake 30 minutes, or until tender.
4. Remove foil; turn oven to broil, and shift baking pan to top rack. Broil 5 minutes, or until lightly browned.
5. Meanwhile, toast pine nuts in skillet over medium heat, shaking pan frequently, 4 to 5 minutes, or until browned.
6. Transfer pears to serving plates, drizzle with juice from pan, and sprinkle with pine nuts.
Nutrition Information
- Calories 207
- Carbohydrate Content 50 g
- Cholesterol Content 0 mg
- Fat Content 2 g
- Fiber Content 7 g
- Protein Content 1 g
- Saturated Fat Content 0.5 g
- Sodium Content 25 mg
- Sugar Content 36 g