We chefs know the real reason behind why Auguste Escoffier made this meal, despite claims that he did it in celebration of the opera La Belle Helene. How else are bruised pears going to be utilized in such a wonderful and lovely manner?
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 20 mins |
| Additional Time: | 2 hrs 20 mins |
| Total Time: | 3 hrs |
| Servings: | 4 |
| Yield: | 4 pears |
Ingredients
- 6 cups water
- 1 lemon, zested and juiced
- 4 Bosc pears – cored, peeled, stems left on
- 1 vanilla bean
- 3 cups sugar
- 1 cup prepared hot fudge topping, or as needed
- 1 cup vanilla ice cream, or as needed
Instructions
- Place water in a heavy pot. Stir in zest and juice of 1 lemon. Place pears in pot. Split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape out the seeds. Add the seeds and split pods to the poaching liquid. Pour in sugar.
- Bring pot to a simmer over medium-high heat; stir gently to dissolve sugar with minimal jostling of the pears. Reduce heat so pears continue cooking over a steady, gentle simmer. Pears need to stay submerged, so place a small plate over them in the pot to keep them under the liquid. Simmer until pears are just tender, 20 to 25 minutes. (Remove plate to test the pears for doneness.) Remove pot from heat and let pears cool to room temperature in the poaching liquid.
- Transfer pears and vanilla beans to a storage container and cover with some of the poaching liquid. Cover and refrigerate until pears are thoroughly chilled, several hours or overnight. Reserve all of the poaching liquid (see footnote).
- Heat hot fudge sauce in a saucepan over medium heat until warm. Dip base of pear into the chocolate and spoon chocolate along the sides except for the top inch or so of the pear.
- Place dipped pears in individual serving bowls with another generous spoonful of syrup and a small scoop of vanilla ice cream.
- A small melon-baller is a great tool for removing pears’ cores.
- You can also coat the pears with a classic ganache. For this recipe, use 2 parts cream to 1 part chocolate (by weight).
- As far as the extra vanilla poaching liquid goes: you’ll want to strain it, pour it into some cool-looking bottles, and give it away as edible gifts. The taste is incredible. This would make a fantastic holiday treat for the wannabe mixologists in your life.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 1060 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 241 g |
| Cholesterol | 15 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 9 g |
| Protein | 4 g |
| Saturated Fat | 7 g |
| Sodium | 252 mg |
| Sugars | 213 g |
| Fat | 14 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Loved these, so simple and elegant. Perfect with a bit of homemade ice cream and love that the pear syrup can be used to make cocktails.
I didn’t do it quite right, and so the pears were still a bit hard when we ate them, but I really like it. I wish the recipe used the actual name though—Poire Belle Hélène
This is a gorgeous, flavourful dessert! It’s also easy to prepare ahead of time so you aren’t rushed. I had to use vanilla bean paste (15 ml or 1 T = 1 vanilla pod) but it’s the next best thing.
super easy & delish! …and I don’t even like fruit desert, usually.
Excellent! I brought them to a dinner party and everyone loved them. I used only 1 cup of sugar and it was plenty.
Your method of removing seeds wastes fruit. I sliced ready to eat pear lengthwise and easily removed seeds AND stem.
This was so delicious! Very sweet! I might cut back on the sugar next time and see what the difference is. I added two extra cups of water and a few extra pears. Didn’t seem to change the recipe at all. The recipe is easy to follow and wonderful! I just melted chocolate chips to use for the chocolate. Soooooo good!!!
Adorable video!
Easy, delicious no brainer!
Definitely will make this dessert again. Easy, pretty and delicious.
Fantastic! Have to use dark to semi sweet chocolate sauce!
I made some slight modifications and it was delicious. I used vanilla extract rather than the vanilla bean and I used caramel instead of chocolate. Fantastic!
This took awhile to make but it was worth the wait.