Recipes, Photography, Musings

Baked Pears With Blue Cheese

These baked pears with blue cheese encompass so many flavors and textures! Tender, juicy pears are baked with maple syrup and thyme sprigs, then stuffed with blue cheese and walnuts, a bit of salt and pepper, and drizzled with more maple syrup.  Sweet, savory, tender, and crunchy all in one baked fruit!  They make an elegant and delicious appetizer or snack, and they are even quite healthy!

baked pears with blue cheese 1609Sometimes I make food to please certain members of my family, or sometimes even the whole family, and sometimes, I make something just for me.  These baked pears with blue cheese fall under the latter category (though my daughter tried them and loved them).  I absolutely love blue cheese, especially when it is paired with fruit.  The sweet/savory taste is so satisfying to me, and pears in the winter time seem like such a gift.

baked pear with blue cheese 1634I always get such good food inspiration when I go to get the oil changed in our car.  I know that might sound unexpected, but it’s true!  Our mechanic’s office is a secret haven for food-lovers, as the woman (and co-owner)who works in the office there loves food and is a great cook (and a great friend), and inevitably the conversations there often revolve around our latest recipes.  There happened to be another food-lover who was also waiting for her car when I was there last, and she was talking about the classic combination of pears and blue cheese.  Since then, I have not been able to get it out of my mind, so I found an awesome recipe for it and am so happy with the result!

The following recipe is based on one I found on the blog Happy Kitchen.Rocks.  I stayed pretty close to the recipe there, except I used pure maple syrup instead of honey.  It is a very simple recipe that produces a beautiful appetizer with complex flavors.  The thyme sprigs really add a flavorful touch.  I was so excited to find that out in our herb garden, under the snow, there were still some green thyme sprigs!

It has been a very cold winter so far! We went up to northern Michigan for a few days around the New Year, and it was so bracingly cold, yet so beautiful in a pure, pared-down way.

cold morningAfter the busy holiday season, I got sick, so I have not been in the blog world for a little while.  I am feeling much better and am happy to be back here.  There is an art to finding the right balance between the urge to stay home and hibernate in the winter and the need to work, and to get out and exercise and see people. I am still working on that balance, but later today I plan to get out and cross country ski.  I hope  you all have a good weekend, and stay warm!  I am sharing this lovely appetizer over at Angie’s Fiesta Friday, co-hosted this week by Lily @ Little Sweet Baker and Judi @ cookingwithauntjuju.baked pears with blue cheese in hands

Baked Pears With Blue Cheese

  • Servings: six
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Ingredients:

  • 3 pears, just ripe but still a bit firm
  • 2-3 tablespoons of pure maple syrup
  • 6 small sprigs of thyme
  • 6 heaping teaspoons of soft blue cheese
  • 1/3 cup of chopped walnuts
  • salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.  Cut the pears in half length-wise.  With a spoon or melon-baller, scoop out the seeds and make a small hollow in each half.  Place the pear halves cut-side-up in a 9 X 13 inch baking dish.  Drizzle a tablespoon of maple syrup over the pear halves. Then place a thyme sprig on each half.  Bake in your 375 degree oven for 10-13 minutes, or until the pears are tender.

Pull the pears out of the oven and put a heaping teaspoon of blue cheese into the hollow of each pear half.  You may want to remove the thyme sprig and then put it back on after the cheese. Top with the chopped walnuts and drizzle with another tablespoon or so of maple syrup.  Add a bit of salt and pepper to taste.  They are best served warm, but can also be served at room temperature.  Enjoy!

 

This recipe is adapted from the blog Happy Kitchen.Rocks.

 

20 Comments

  1. betsy

    I’m making these tomorrow!

    • Jenny

      Great! I hope you enjoy them, Betsy!

  2. afterchapterthree

    We’re on a low sugar kick at the moment. This sounds like dessert to me!

    • Jenny

      Hi Karen, yes I think these would be great for dessert!

  3. Amanda | What’s Cooking

    So delicious and simple. Funny that your car mechanic is a foodie. Glad you’re feeling better! I hear you about the balance between hibernation and forcing yourself out. X country skiing sounds great. That photo of Michigan is so beautiful and so so cold!! Stay warm! Xo

    • Jenny

      Thank you, Amanda! Good to hear from you, and I hope your New Year is starting out well!

  4. Lily

    What a great way to enjoy pears. I would love to serve this as an appetizer for a special dinner. It’s so simple yet elegant. Thanks for sharing at Fiesta Friday!

    • Jenny

      Thank you, Lily! Thank you for co-hosting this week!

  5. cookingwithauntjuju.com

    Hi Jenny – I’m with you when it comes to blue cheese and fruit – always good! I like the maple syrup too! What a gorgeous picture of the shoreline and lighthouse – which one as I know you live in Michigan too? Thanks for sharing your yummy dessert with us at Fiesta Friday.

    • Jenny

      Thank you, Judi! The lighthouse is in Charlevoix along Lake Michigan. It’s one of my favorite places to go, in any season. 🙂 Thank you for co-hosting FF this week!

  6. Sheryl

    This looks delicious. This must be the season for pears. I also posted a pear recipe this week.

    • Jenny

      Thank you, Sheryl, I saw your pear post too, and it looked delicious! It’s nice that we have pears during this time of year when so many other fruits are not at their best around here.

  7. nancyc

    The pairing of pears with blue cheese sounds really good!

    • Jenny

      Thank you, Nancy, it is a really delicious combination!

  8. Debbie Spivey

    Such a pretty dessert! I am not a raw pear fan, and have always wondered if cooked pears would be different. Anyway… glad you are feeling better!

    • Jenny

      You might like cooked pears better than raw–especially if they are baked in a sweet sauce like maple syrup….Thank you, I am finally feeling good again!!

  9. Karen

    You gave me a chuckle when you mentioned where you got your inspiration for your pears…getting your oil changed. Nice dish, I’ve pinned it…thank you!

    • Jenny

      Thank you, Karen! Yes, I always enjoy good food conversations when getting our car worked on. It was the first place I took morel mushrooms when I found them in our yard. 🙂

  10. Alison's Allspice

    These look so delicious! I love blue cheese, but it’s the maple syrup that is making me swoon over this recipe! pinned for later!

    • Jenny

      Thank you, Alison! I love maple syrup too, and with the pears, it is so naturally sweet!

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