SRC – OAT ROASTED PEARS – GFree and Vegan

It is time again for Secret Recipe Club.  Once a month I participate in a fun and inspiring blog swap of sorts.  This month I was assigned Erin’s blog, A Tale of One Foodie’s Culinary Adventures.

Erin’s favorite part of cooking and baking is doing it for other people…a girl after my own heart!  She started the blog as a pseudo journal so she could keep track of all the cooking, baking and wine tasting she does.  While cruising through her blog I saw many mouthwatering dishes that I was interested in making …many of which were vegan and the others which me great recipe ideas that I could take back to the kitchen and veganize.  Ultimately I decided to make her Oat Roasted Pears which she adapted from a recipe by Anna Olson.  My family is slightly obsessed with pears right now since they are at the peak of amazing this time of year.

Since coming back from the Healthy Lifestyle Expo a few weekends ago I am primed to make as many healthy changes as I can in my cooking and baking, so I eliminated all of the butter and refined sugar from this dish and substituted date sugar and honey (I also used pecans vs. almonds since that is what I had on hand).  In addition, I halved the recipe since there are only four of us.

The end result was delicious and we all loved it!

For Erin’s original recipe, click here.

• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 2 Tbs date sugar
• 2 Tbs honey or maple syrup
• 2 Tbs chopped pecans
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 bartlett or bosc pears
• So Delicious Vanilla Coconut yogurt and maple Syrup or honey for drizzling

Method:

Preheat the oven to 375F. Toss the oats, date sugar, honey, pecans and cinnamon to combine.

Cut the pears in half (don’t peel them) and scoop out their cores (I used a melon baller).

Lay the pear halves in a baking dish.

Press 1/4 of the oat filling into the center of each pear.

Bake, uncovered for 25 minutes, until pears are tender and the oat filling is lightly browned.  NOTE – Watch closely.  If the oat mixture begins to cook too rapidly, cover with foil.

Serve warm, drizzled with maple syrup or honey and vanilla yogurt.

For a printable version of this recipe click here.