Do this

I made Red Wine Poached Pears with Marscapone Filling for dinner yesterday and finally got around to eating one of them. SOFUCKINGGOOD.

 

Make them. I didn't even make them *correctly*. You're supposed to core them and stuff them with the marscapone filling, but I couldn't figure out how the hell to stuff them, so I just served the marscapone on the side.

 

6 firm Bartlett pears (DO NOT USE soft-ripe ones, they'll fall apart)

1 bottle red wine

1 vanilla bean, whole

2 cinnamon sticks

2 bay leaves

2 cups sugar

2 (8 oz) containers marscapone cheese, softened

1/2 cup heavy cream

pinch cinnamon

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons butter

 

Peel pears, leave stem intact. In a large saucepan, bring wine and an equal amount of cold water to a simmer. Split vanilla bean lengthwise and add to wine and water mixture. Add cinnamon sticks, bay leaves and sugar, to taste. Add pears to liquid and simmer for about 20 minutes or until tender. Cool pears in liquid to room temp. You can refrigerate them in the poaching liquid until ready to fill.

 

Remove stems from pears and set them aside. Core pears with an apple corer, leaving pear whole.

 

Whisk together marscapone cheese, heavy cream, pinch cinnamon and powdered sugar until smooth. Transfer to a pastry bag, or if you do not have one, use wax paper tightly wrapped into a cone with the corner snipped off. Pipe filling into cored pears and finish by putting the stems gently into the marscapone filling on top of the pears.

 

Bring sauce up to a simmer and reduce by half. Add butter to reduced sauce and stir until combined. Spoon generously over pears. Cool to room temperature before serving.