Poached pears are slowly simmered in a ‘bath’, infusing them with pure flavor. A sinfully delicious desert you can gorge on without any guilt. This recipe will make you want to add pears to your shopping basket every. single. time. (Just me?) Up until now I have only cooked them inside of a tart……but man alive, these are so much better!

I eat these alone with some homemade whipped cream. (heavy cream or coconut cream is delish) That’s it! I love that this is a pretty impressive desert to serve AND I didn’t have to spend hours in the kitchen making it. Also my house smells AH-mazing. I let the KitchenAid do the work on the whipped cream and all I had to do with the pears is load up a pot with flavor bombs and let them take a long soak. 

The hardest part of this recipes is convincing yourself that you should share. 

Oh! Oh! And you can even make these in advance. After the poach, let them come to room temperature. Cover and place in a shallow dish in the fridge. An hour before you are ready to serve them, take them out and let them come to room temperature again. To give them that shiny gloss just before serving I brushed them with a basalmic glaze. 

The tart from the hibiscus compliments the sweet pear so elegantly. You can use wine (which is my favorite) or go the hibiscus route. The basalmic glaze gives your mouth a little pop when eating it and the sweet cream just makes this a pleasure to serve. 

TIP: I bought my hibiscus tea from Amazon. I buy a 1 lb bag and always keep it on hand. It’s a wonderfully summer tea when sweetened and it’s been claimed to help reduce blood pressure. Can’t beat a soothing tea!  I also reserved the tea from the poaching liquid in this recipe. ( why waste it? ) Just after I took the pears out, I added some honey to the hot liquid until it was just sweet enough. Let it cool, strain it, and put it in the fridge to have homemade iced tea on hand.  This is the beauty of seeing a recipe and making it your own. You get to play, experiment, learn and best of all…..eat!

Glazed Hibiscus Poached Pears with an Orange Spiced Cream

★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

Print Recipe

This dish is a total show stopper and a beautiful treat to serve. Your guests will be impressed to be sure and this recipe will have you looking forward to pear season all year long! Simmered in a long bath of hibiscus tea and spices, these poached pears hold a ruby hue that demand attention.

• Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
• Yield: 6–12 servings 1x

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

10+ cups of Water

6 Pears

1 cup Hibiscus tea leaves

3 Cinnamon sticks

1 tsp Whole cloves

1/2 cup Honey

2 Oranges (zested and quartered)

Vanilla

4 cups Whipping Cream

1 tsp Nutmeg 

1 dash of sea salt

2 Star anise pods

Dash of nutmeg

Dash of allspice

1 inch fresh ginger

1 tbs apple cider vinegar

½ cup balsamic vinegar

Instructions

1. Fill a dutch oven or stock pot half way with water. Zest the oranges (reserve the zest) and quarter them. Squeeze the juice into the pot and throw in the oranges. Set to medium heat and allow to come to a boil.
2. While the liquid warms up, gently peel the pears with a veggie peeler. Use a knife to get around the stems but leave the stems on. Throw the pear shavings into the pot.
3. Once the liquid comes to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer and add the hibiscus, a dash of vanilla, dash of nutmeg, dash of allspice, cinnamon sticks, apple cider vinegar, cloves, honey, ginger and salt to the pot.
4. Gently add in the pears and fill up with water if needed so they are just covered. Put on a lid and let simmer for 30 minutes.
5. Check them at 30 minutes. If the color is not deep enough, add more hibiscus tea. Cover and let simmer another 30 minutes.
6. Once done, gently remove with a slotted spoon and let them come to room temperature.
7. Strain the liquid and lightly sweeten it to taste. Reserve 2 cups and put the rest in the fridge for a sweet cold tea beverage.
8. Add 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar to the reserved liquid and add it to a sauce pan. On medium heat, let simmer until reduced by half. Gently brush the pears with the liquid.
9. Whip the cream with a stand mixer until soft peaks form. Add sugar, a dash of cinnamon, the orange zest and dash of allspice and mix until hard peaks form.

Serve whole (or double your yield by cutting them in half and coring them) with a dallop of spiced cream on the side.

Notes

• Make sure to use firm pears so they can withstand the poaching process.
• Substitute whipped cream for a non-dairy version and make a coconut whipped cream. Buy 2 cans of coconut cream and let it sit in the fridge overnight to make it easier to whip. Empty the can into the mixer, spice per recipe and mix until desired consistency.
• If you need to thicken up the reserved liquid for brushing, add some honey.
• You can make this ahead of time! I follow the process but after the pears come to room temp I gently wrap them in plastic wrap and put in the fridge overnight. Throw the orange zest in a zip lock bag and keep that in the fridge too. Take out an hour before serving so they come to room temp. Heat up the glaze, brush on and make the cream. Done!
• Not all hibiscus teas are created equal. Some are more bitter than others. Much like wine, don’t cook with a tea you wouldn’t drink. It is known to reduce blood pressure so I always have some on hand and drink it daily. My personal preference is the 1lb bag from Amazon by Frontier CoOp.

• Author: Drea King
• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Cook Time: 1 hour

Keywords: pears, poached pears, easy dessert, pear recipe, hibiscus pears, spiced cream, make ahead dessert, impressive dessert