Red Wine Poached Pears with Mascarpone Filling

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Little effort with great results and huge raves! Nice presentation for the "wow" factor. Tip: I used a grapefruit knife to take out the pear cores. It took out a little more core than an apple peeler (so I could pipe in more filling and the curved end on the knife aided in pulling out that part. I had been struggling with the apple corer. Also, next time, I will make sure that the pears are submerged in the wine mixture overnight; because a few of them weren't totally submerged, they had a section of lighter-red color-- not that my guests noticed, or would have cared-- but thought I would mention it to others. A "go-to" dessert recipe, for sure!

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Made this multiple times with consistently excellent results. In addition to tasting great once done, you get the wonderful aromas while poaching the pears. Definitely a dessert favorite.

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I have made this dessert several times and always to raves.....simplicity and elegance for the holidays or just a lovely ending to a nice dinner.....I cut the wine/water/sugar in half and still have plenty of the sauce. I also cut the pears in half and scoop out center with a melon baller. It's wonderful to have an easy, very dramatic dessert that is NOT work intensive. If you love pears, you will love this!

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Blew family and friends away with this one. Topped with chocolate ganache. Our family regular for special occassions.

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I've been making this recipe for a few years now, and have always gotten rave reviews. To really dress it up for holidays, I make some chocolate leaves and tuck one in with the stem. Sometimes I brush the leaves with gold or silver luster dust.
I've also made it into a tart...blind bake a tart shell, put the mascarpone cream in the bottom, slice the poached pears and arrange in a spiral pattern on top of the cream, brush on the syrup, and top with a sprinkling of chopped pistachios. Serve with a pitcher of extra sauce on the side. To die for!

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In addition to the vanilla extract and cinnamon sticks, I added a star anise, cardamon, and two cloves to the simmering wine. I also used a filling of mascarpone and confectioner's sugar on the side of the dish because I didn't have an apple corer or heavy cream. Everyone loved the dish, I was the only one with complaints (though they aren't really complaints, just improvements. My thought that the wine flavor was too subtle and the sauce tasted too much like a fruit sauce than a wine sauce. It tasted great while cooking but got too sweet as it reduced. Next time I'll just cook the pears in a bottle of wine and 1/2 cup of water and cut amount of sugar by half or so.

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I made these pears for dessert after Easter dinner and they were a hit. I cut the pears in half lengthwise and scooped out the center with a melon baller. I served half a pear to each person in a pool of broth with the marscarpone mixture piped into the middle and a sprinkle of toasted walnuts over the top. Delicious!

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I just served these to my family tonight and WOW is all I have to say! These were incredible!! Everyone absolutely loved them. I think the key factor was making them the night before and letting them soak in the wine mixture in the fridge for a whole day. they became such a deep ruby red color. They were beautiful. I definitely reccomend adding some of the marscapone filling on the side since there isn't a lot that fits into the pear itself. And I'm saving the wine sauce to pour over ice cream and fruit tomorrow! I'm even going to make these for a dinner party I'm giving this weekend for a bunch of people! Can't wait!

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I made these Red Wine Poached Pears for New Year's Eve dinner with friends and again for an anniversary celebration for guests. The first time I used a grocery story "Red Cooking Wine". The flavor was good but the color was weak. Note: I used ripe pears that were just beginning to get yellow and softer, not a hard pear. They cooked nicely but did take more than the 20 minutes recommended. The second time I used a Beaujolais red wine. The color was fabulous and the flavor was stronger. I enjoyed the Beaujolais but my husband preferred the first wine over the second one. An apple corer works beautifully to core the pears. The Beaujolais also made a nicer sauce after cooking down somewhat and made a beautiful presentation on a china platter. The pears were lined up on the long platter & covered with the brilliant red sauce. Not only do they taste wonderful but made a beautiful presentation. This will become one of my standards for all special dinners. Everyone was very impressed!

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I took this dessert to an elegant dinner party and it was a huge hit. I doubled the amount of pears and doubled the liquid measure (wine and water, added another cup of sugar and another bay leaf, but left all other ingredients same. As said other raters, there was more than enough mascarpone cheese filling than needed for even 12 pears. I tood advice of others and let the pears sit in the red wine poaching sauce overnight/full day before coring and filling. After filling, these sat well in the fridge for about 5 hours before putting the sauce on and serving. This is an incredibly impressive dessert. Definitely use a corer and a pastry bag to make sure it's as perfect as the photo.