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This Baked Pears recipe is the quintessential wintertime dessert! Serve with some whipped cream or your favourite ice cream for dessert or over oatmeal or yoghurt for breakfast. It’s vegan, gluten-free, and dairy-free!
Recipe Difficulty – Very Easy
Table of Contents
Why this recipe works
While I adhere to a fairly strict, mostly vegan and dairy-free diet, I get a sweet tooth like anyone else. And this baked spiced pears recipe is one of my favourite ways to nip that craving in the bud.
Made with warm spices, pure maple syrup, coconut sugar, and orange juice, these spiced pears are bursting with comforting flavours reminiscent of apple pie without any of the carbs or refined sugar. This is a gluten-free dessert recipe everyone will love!
The inspiration for this recipe came from my Puff Pastry Apple Tart with it’s cinnamon spiced apple.
Serve these spiced baked pears with some of my Homemade Cashew Cream or coconut whipped cream, plant-based ice cream to keep them vegan-friendly and dairy-free for dessert. Or, serve over some oatmeal or dairy-free yoghurt for a healthy and flavourful breakfast!
I added this recipe into my Best 33 Vegan Desserts and 35 Gluten Free Desserts round up!
Ingredients to make baked pears
- Pears: You’ll need three large pears for this baked spiced pears recipe, but you could decrease or increase that depending on how many people you plan to serve. If you have some spare then try my Pear Crumble.
- Coconut Sugar: I opt for this ingredient over brown sugar to keep the dish refined sugar-free, but you can use the latter if needed. I also make a brilliant Gluten Free Carrot Cake using it
- Pure Maple Syrup: Not pancake syrup! They’re not the same thing. You want 100% pure maple syrup to keep this baked spiced pears recipe flavoured properly and Paleo-friendly.
- Orange: The fresh-squeezed orange juice adds bright flavour to these baked pears and helps cut through the sweetness.
- Coconut Oil: This is my preferred oil to use for healthy baked desserts because it has a high smoke point and a nice flavour that blends in nicely with other ingredients. It also helps to brown the exposed flesh of the pears nicely as they bake.
- Spices: I stuck with classic dry spices like cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg for this baked spiced pears recipe.
See recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities
Substitutions
- Sugar: You could also use date sugar or agave.
- Pears: Not a fan of pears? This recipe would also work well with apples, especially Granny Smith or Honey Crisp.
- Maple Syrup: If you don’t have any pure maple syrup handy, then you could also use some pure honey. (Local is best!)
Variations
- Sea Salt: Add a tiny pinch of salt to balance out the sweetness before or after baking.
- Nuts: Need something crunchy to go with these baked spiced pears? Serve with toasted almond slices, roasted pistachios, chopped pecans, or walnuts!
- Alcohol: If you imbibe, you could add a splash of alcohol to this baked spiced pears recipe before baking. Bourbon, brandy, or orange liqueur works best!
- Dried Fruit: You could add some dried raisins, cranberries, or currants to these baked spiced pears, if desired. They would work well with the other ingredients, as well as add another textural element.
How to make baked pears
Step 1: Start by washing your pears, slicing them in half, and removing the seeds with a spoon to create a small well.
Step 2: Place the pears into a baking dish with the cored side facing up, and top the halves with the coconut sugar, maple syrup, orange juice, melted coconut oil, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. Brush the ingredients over the pears to evenly coat.
Step 3: Next, turn the seasoned pears over so the core side is facing down in the casserole dish. Bake at 180C (fan) 356F for 25 minutes.
Step 4: Remove the baked spiced pears from the oven, turn over so the core side are face up again, baste with the liquid sauce from the dish, and bake again for another 10 minutes.
Leftovers
This vegan dessert is best enjoyed hot and fresh, but in the off chance you have leftovers, store them in an airtight container in your fridge for up to 3 days. Keep in mind they will likely get a but softer when they’re reheated, so let them come to room temperature beforehand, if time allows.
Recipe FAQs
I honestly like to enjoy them year-round, but they’re especially nice in the fall or winter when pears are in season and everyone is craving warm comfort foods made with vibrant spices like the ones used in this recipe. (Think apple pie, but healthier.) This is also a great side dish or dessert to serve for Christmas, New Year’s, or Easter!
It’s true that compared to other fruits like apples, pears are a bit on the softer side. But honestly that’s why I love baking them. They almost turn into a pear sauce, similar to apple sauce. The perfect accompaniment to whipped cream or ice cream!
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Baked Pears
Ingredients
- 3 large pears
- 3 tbsp coconut sugar, (or brown sugar)
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 orange
- 1 tbsp coconut oil, melted
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp ginger
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
Instructions
- Firstly, slice the pears in half and scoop out the cores with a spoon
- Place the pears into a baking dish (core side facing up) and top with the coconut sugar, maple syrup, juice of the orange, melted coconut oil, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and brush it over to evenly coat the pears
- Now, turn over the pears so the core side is facing down and bake at 180C (fan) 356F for 25 minutes
- Remove from the oven, turn over so the core side faces up again, baste with the liquid sauce from the dish and bake again for 10 minutes
Notes
Nutrition
For those who say they don’t like pears, they have never eaten them like this!
An absolute favourite of mine! A super easy dessert to make – family loved it!