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Dessert Wine Poached Pears with Golden Raisins

Dessert wine poached pears in a delicious honey, vanilla & cardamom syrup served with a Chantilly cream makes for an elegant end to any meal.

This takes around an hour to make but it can be prepared in advance and reheated later, all you need to do is prepare the cream when you are ready to serve.

Close-up dessert wine poached pears with golden raisins and Chantilly cream.

Poached Pear with Honey, Cardamom and Vanilla

Desserts don’t appear here on my site very often because I don’t have a massive sweet tooth.

That doesn’t mean that I don’t like “pudding”, it just means I eat them less often and as a result, it takes me a long time to develop dessert recipes.

My dessert recipes usually fall into two categories. Childhood memories, like my sticky toffee pudding and bread and butter pudding recipes, or classic dishes like my cherry clafoutis and lemon meringue pie recipes.

They are also all designed for two people which is so often a challenge when cooking pudding.

These wonderful dessert wine poached pears definitely fall into the latter, and the flavours are simple but work really well together.

Autumnal pears are the perfect flavour match with sweet dessert wine. Honey and golden raisins add a little more sweetness.

Vanilla and cardamom add delicious warm and earthy undertones to the whole recipe.

Finally, we round it all out with a beautifully simple chantilly cream.

This recipe has no bells and whistles but it screams elegance and will have those who eat it think you are a dessert-making maestro, even if you are not!

Dessert wine poached pears with golden raisins and Chantilly cream.

Frequently Asked Questions

What sort of wine should I use?

This recipe calls for a dessert or pudding wine, they are sweeter and often stronger than table wines.

I use Tokaj, a Hungarian dessert wine that has been around forever! Famous fans range from Beethoven to Louis XIV and Napoleon to Queen Victoria.

If you cannot get Tokaj maybe try and hunt down a Sauternes or a Sémillon.

Can I use regular raisins?

Yes, but golden raisins definitely look better in this recipe.

Can I use powdered cardamom?

You could in theory, however, you would need to be very careful because cardamom can overpower if overused.

I personally would stick with cardamom pods.

Can I make this in advance?

Yes, but it is best to not exceed 4-5 hours because the pears become mushy if left much longer.

If you want to make this in advance follow my recipe to stage 6 then set aside the poaching syrup and the pears and raisins to cool.

When you are ready to serve heat the pears over a medium heat and the syrup, then make up the chantilly cream.

Overhead dessert wine poached pears with golden raisins and Chantilly cream.

Serving Suggestions

I’ve served my wine-poached pears here with a very simple and delicious Chantilly cream, but there are a few other options that work well with this recipe.

My first choice would be ice cream, you can either buy your own or make something like this homemade vanilla ice cream or lemon ice cream if you want a bit more tartness.

Moving away from the creamy toppings a bit of a firmer texture would work a treat too.

Ginger would be a lovely combination and some ginger nut biscuits, these homemade ginger biscuits, or if you are bold these ginger and chilli biscuits would be awesome!

If ginger isn’t your thing some crumbled amaretti biscuits would work wonderfully.

One final option, how about some crumbled hazelnut praline?

Close-up pudding wine poached pears with golden raisins and Chantilly cream.

Equipment Used

I only name-check brands of equipment if I think that they make a material difference to a recipe. But if you have any questions feel free to ask them in the comments section below the recipe.

  • Stovetop.
  • 20cm or 8″ saucepan.
  • 15cm or 6″ saucepan.
  • Chopping board.
  • Vegetable peeler.
  • Kitchen knife.
  • Teaspoon with “sharp” edges or a melon baller to remove the pear cores.
  • Mixing bowl.
  • Whisk.
  • Small fine mesh sieve.
  • Weighing scales and or measuring jug, cups and spoons.
Pears poached in dessert wine with golden raisins, honey and cardamom.
Yield: 2 Servings

Dessert Wine Poached Pears Recipe

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes

Poached pears are a classic recipe for the ever-popular autumnal fruit, this one is poached in the famous Hungarian Dessert wine, Tokaj with honey and cardamom.

Ingredients

  • 2 Pears
  • 500ml (½ Cup) Dessert Wine
  • 250ml (1 Cup) Water
  • 6 Cardamom Pods
  • 40g (2 Tbsp) Honey
  • 1 Vanilla Pod
  • 30g (¼ Cup) Golden Raisins
  • 125ml (½ Cup) Double cream
  • 1 Tbsp Icing or Powdered Sugar

Instructions

  1. Add the wine, water, honey and cardamom pods to a 20cm or 8" saucepan and bring it to a low simmer.
  2. Cut the vanilla pod in half lengthways and scrape out the seeds, set them aside and add the vanilla pod to the wine and honey mix.
  3. Peel the pears, cut them in half lengthways, then remove the core and the root. Drop them into the wine syrup and allow them to gently poach until soft, this will take around 25 minutes.
  4. When the pears are soft, remove them from the heat and pour off half of the liquid into a small 15cm or 6" saucepan.
  5. Add the raisins into the pan with the pears and allow to cool with a lid on for 20 minutes.
  6. Reduce the poaching liquid that you have drained off three-quarters and set aside.
  7. 5 minutes before you are ready to serve whip the cream, sift in the powdered sugar and add the then the vanilla seeds and stir to combine.
  8. Serve with the raisins in the cavity left by the core, drizzle with the reserved stock and finally add a dollop of Chantilly cream.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

2

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 736Total Fat: 12gSaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3.4gCholesterol: 41mgSodium: 41mgCarbohydrates: 97gFiber: 7gSugar: 67gProtein: 3g

Calorific details are provided by a third-party application and are to be used as indicative figures only.

Did you make this recipe?

If you made this recipe, I'd love to see what you did and what I can do better, share a picture with me on Instagram and tag me @krumplibrian and tell me how it went!

Edyta at Innocent Delight

Friday 27th of October 2017

Pears are so delicious. I love incorporating them into desserts. This is a fantastic recipe!

Brian Jones

Tuesday 31st of October 2017

Thanks Edyta.

Jacque

Friday 27th of October 2017

This sounds amazing! I will have to give this recipe a try!

Brian Jones

Tuesday 31st of October 2017

Have fun :)

Ginny

Friday 27th of October 2017

These are so elegant. I have yet to poach pears but I will now!

Brian Jones

Tuesday 31st of October 2017

They are super simple and really change up to a much lighter fresher dessert offering particularly after a heavy meal.

Calleigh Keibler

Friday 27th of October 2017

Pears is one of my favorite fruits but never thought of eating my pears like this. I like this awesome idea and I could hear my waistline is screaming for mercy already.. lol

Brian Jones

Tuesday 31st of October 2017

It's not that bad a dessert for the waistline (if you discount the cream of course), but it's fruit, it's good for ya ;)

David @ Cooking Chat

Friday 27th of October 2017

This sounds like a wonderful fall dessert! I do need to track down this dessert wine, too.

Brian Jones

Tuesday 31st of October 2017

I've seen a few reports about Tokaj hitting the shelves in the US, it really is a great slurp :)

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