Poached Pears with Cinnamon Vanilla Syrup

I believe this is the first pear recipe I've ever shared on the blog.

To be honest, I don't eat pears that often. I didn't care for them when I was a child, and hadn't bothered to getting around to trying them again. However, as I was perusing the produce aisle this week at the grocery store, I couldn't help but notice how many lovely pears were on sale. Turns out, pears are in season right now. I'm guessing most everyone already knew that :)

So I picked a couple up. And have been pleasantly surprised since then. I ate a few raw (so yummy), and then figured I'd use the rest for a recipe. I almost made a pear jam to serve with cheese and crackers, but vetoed it at the last second. Why? Because I got the idea for poached pears, something I've been meaning to try for some time now. I've made apples in this fashion before, and loved them. They taste like apple pie filling. I mean, it's hard to go wrong when you are cooking fruit in cinnamon vanilla syrup.

One of the best parts of this extremely simple dessert is how fragrant the house becomes when you are cooking them. I had left the pears on the stove to simmer while I took the dogs out, unaware of what I'd be returning to when I came back in the house. It smelled heavenly, like a bakery. Cinnamon. Sugar. Vanilla. Oh my. I can see why people get Scentsy's that make their house smell like a bake shop.

I'm now realizing I've posted 2 desserts on a week when I was going to blog all about salads. LOL. I guess that's just the way the cookie (or pear) crumbles :)

Ingredients (serves 5):

2 cups water
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 vanilla bean, seeds scraped and pod
1 cinnamon stick
2 tbsp lemon juice
5 pears, peeled and rinsed

Directions:

1. In a small pot, combine water through lemon juice.
2. Place pears in liquid. Bring mixture to a boil, then lower heat to a simmer. Simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until pears are easily pierced by a fork. Spoon liquid over pears occasionally as they simmer.
3. When pears are done, remove them from pan. Turn heat up on pot and bring mixture to a boil. Reduce mixture until it equals about 1 cup. This took an additional 5-7 minutes after the pears were done. Remove from heat, discard vanilla bean pod and cinnamon stick.
4. Place a pears on serving plates, spoon syrup over pears. Serve immediately.

Recipe adapted from Table For 2... Or More 

Linked to: Weekend Potluck