Cider Soaked Pears with a Vanilla Cinnamon Sauce

This recipe is a holiday gift from Diane Hoch at The Food Evolution. Please visit her website at  www.thefoodevolution.com

Peel the pears and cut them in half.  Scoop out the core and continue along the veins to create a canal.  Take small slice off rounded part of pear so that it will stay flat in saucepan.  Squeeze juice of lemon over pears.  Arrange pears flat side down in saucepan and fill each pear with an equal portion of cranberries and walnuts.  Sprinkle the pears with the cinnamon.  Add the cinnamon sticks to the pan and pour the apple cider and vanilla extract around the pears.  Simmer, uncovered, over medium heat for 10 minutes basting frequently with sauce.  Cover at the 10 minute mark and cook for an additional 10 minutes covered.  Uncover and cook for 5 more minutes, basting frequently until sauce is thickened and darker in color.   Remove pan from heat and plate pears.  Drizzle with pan sauce and serve.

The sauce is such a sweet and beautiful fall color and consistency to plate this dish with!

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