Baked spiced pears with yoghurt and toasted walnuts
This simple, beautiful dessert asks almost nothing of you and delivers something that feels genuinely special. Pears are one of June’s great pleasures in Australia: sweet, fragrant, and at their peak. Warm spices transform them into something comforting and deeply autumnal, the yoghurt adds a cool, probiotic contrast, and the walnuts bring crunch and brain-healthy omega-3 fats. This works beautifully as a dessert but is equally wonderful for breakfast, especially on a slow Sunday morning. This recipe serves 4, takes 10 minutes to prepare and 25 minutes to cook.
- 4 firm pears (Beurre Bosc or Packham)
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons raw honey or pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons water
- ½ cup walnuts, roughly chopped
- Plain or coconut yoghurt, to serve
- Fresh mint or thyme, to garnish (optional)
- Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan-forced).
- Halve the pears lengthways and scoop out the core with a teaspoon. Place cut-side up in a baking dish.
- Whisk together the lemon juice, honey or maple syrup, cinnamon, cardamom, vanilla, and water. Spoon generously over the pears.
- Cover the dish with foil and bake for 15 minutes. Remove foil, spoon the pan juices over the pears again, and bake for a further 10 minutes until tender and golden at the edges.
- Meanwhile, toast the walnuts in a dry frypan over medium heat for 3–4 minutes, shaking the pan, until fragrant and lightly browned. Watch them closely because they go from toasted to burnt quickly.
- Serve the pears warm, spooning over any remaining pan juices, with a generous dollop of yoghurt and a scatter of toasted walnuts. Garnish with a sprig of fresh mint or thyme if you like.
Hopewood tip: Any leftover baked pears are wonderful the next morning, cold from the fridge, or spooned over porridge. A truly Hopewood breakfast.
