A Honey of a Dessert

Baked Pears With Ginger and Honey is a favorite winter dessert of mine. Peeled and cored pear halves are baked with a coating of brown sugar, honey, ground ginger, lemon and butter. Then the pears are removed from the pan and a sauce is made by stirring water and butter into the remaining syrup. The pears are delicious with a scoop of almond-crunch yogurt or vanilla ice cream and napped with the sauce.

BAKED PEARS WITH GINGER AND HONEY

8 ripe pears, preferably Bartletts

1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed

1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger

3 tablespoons honey

1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

5 tablespoons unsalted butter

2/3 cup water

1 quart almond-crunch frozen yogurt or best-quality vanilla ice cream, optional

Spray 2 heavy 12-inch skillets or stove-proof baking dishes with non-stick spray.

Peel, core and halve pears. Divide pears evenly and place, cored-side down, in 2 skillets. Divide brown sugar and ginger evenly and sprinkle over pears in each skillet. Combine honey, lemon juice and zest in small bowl and stir well to mix. Spoon mixture evenly over pears. Dot pears in each pan with 1 1/2 tablespoons butter.

Bake at 375 degrees until pears are tender when pierced with knife, about 30 minutes. Turn pears over and bake another 10 minutes. Remove from oven. (Pears can be prepared 4 to 5 hours ahead.)

Cool, then cover loosely with plastic wrap and leave at cool room temperature. Reheat, uncovered, at 375 degrees until hot.

Remove pears from pan and place 2 halves on each of 8 dessert plates.

Place skillets over 2 burners on medium-high heat. Add 1/3 cup water to each and whisk to incorporate syrupy mixture in pans. Whisk 1 tablespoon butter into each pan and cook until sauce slightly thickened, 1 to 2 minutes. Nap pears with warm sauce. If desired, place scoop of yogurt on each plate. Makes 8 servings.