Maple Sage Baked Pear

This Maple Sage Baked Pear recipe you’re about to embark on might look innocent in its ingredients and simplicity, but it’s a heavenly dessert, especially when you top it with vanilla bean ice cream! This is the type of dessert you could throw together right before a dinner party, or prepare as a decadent dessert after Thanksgiving.

The pears in this Maple Sage Baked Pear recipe roast in a maple butter sauce that caramelizes while it cooks, and is then drizzled over the dish when it’s done cooking.

The best part is that it’s so incredibly easy, you could probably make it right now if you have unsalted butter, pears, sage, maple syrup, cinnamon, and granola! But my favorite perk of this recipe is that it’s gluten-free. That means everybody wins!

For this baked pear recipe to be perfectly tender, you don’t need an exactly perfectly ripe pear, but it certainly helps. That said, don’t let that stop you from trying this baked pear recipe. I dreamed it up late one night when I was truly craving apple crisp and decided to get fancy instead. I use Bosc pears because they’re already on the softer side and not overly sweet. Plus, we grow them locally.

You’ll also need to know how to hasselback a pear, which I show you in my Maple Sage Baked Pear Recipe video. Basically, it just involves slicing the pear in half from top to bottom, scooping out the seeds, and then placing it flat-side down and making thin slices all across the back like an accordion. Don’t slice all the way through, though!

Usually, when people think of this technique, they imagine a potato with a jillion slices right down its back. We’re going to use this same technique on the pear, though we won’t peel it like most folks would peel a potato. In the end, all the maple butter you’re browning and caramelizing will get drizzled into those slices as the finishing touch!

Feel free to double this recipe if you’re planning to share it. This is more of a single-serving size or a date-night shareable (if you can share!). Without further ado, let’s get into it.

Maple Sage Baked Pear Recipe

In this baked pear recipe, you’ll find finely sliced pears, roasted in a maple sage butter until tender and caramelized with a cinnamon granola topping.

• Author: Amanda MacArthur
• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 45 minutes
• Total Time: 55 minutes
• Yield: Serves 4
• Category: Bakery

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 2 pears, halved the long way, and cored with a spoon at the bottom to remove seeds
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 large sage leaf, finely chopped
• 3 tabelspoons real maple syrup
• 2 pinches of cinnamon
• 1/4 cup neutrally sweetened granola (as in honey or vanilla, not chocolate or cinnamon)
• Optional: scoops of vanilla ice cream

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Find a small baking dish that will fit your pears perfectly, and not too much bigger than that, because you want the pear to marinate in the maple butter.
2. Hasselback the pear halves by placing them flat side down, and using a knife to make a series of thin slices, three-quarters of the way down, across the back, to create an accordion effect. Place the sliced pears in your baking dish.
3. In a small skillet over medium-low heat, add your butter and sage. Cook for about three minutes until the butter begins to bubble, and then begins to brown, then quickly pour in the maple syrup, and mix for about 30 seconds before pouring over the pears. At this point don’t worry if the mixture doesn’t get into your slices. As the pears soften, you can ladle it.
4. Sprinkle a pinch of cinnamon over each pear half, then sprinkle granola evenly over the whole thing. If it gets in the maple butter, that’s totally fine—in fact, it’s great.
5. Bake for 20 minutes, then ladle the butter mixture over the top. At this point, the pear may be more soft, and you can get the mixture in between all the slices a little easier.
6. Bake for an additional 20 minutes, or more if needed to get to a soft, spoonable texture.
7. Ladle the maple butter and granola over the top one more time, and serve alone or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!

Pears are a popular fruit, running a close second to apples! With the Picture Perfect Pear Gardening Guide, you’ll have everything you need to know about growing and enjoying this delicious fruit, including specific advice about planting, pruning, and harvesting, watering tips, and easy-to-make, delicious recipes!

When you try this Maple Sage Baked Pear recipe, let me know what you think!