Ananda Kaplan Embrace the season with our healthy, easy, and tasty Spiced Baked Pears recipe. Bosc pears are at the peak of their season and are a great choice for baking. The simple act of baking a pear transforms it from a simple fruit into a scrumptious naturally sweet dessert. The spices create a depth of flavors while the oat topping, and yogurt provides diversity in textures that tantalize your taste buds. This dessert is not only big on decadence and taste, but your body will be pleased with its nourishing components. The spices used in this desserts contain antioxidants and phytochemicals that can help reduce oxidative stress, improve sleep and mood, as well as fight inflammation. The pears, oats and yogurt work concurrently to promote gut health and support our immune system.
Let this wonderful wholesome dessert feed your mind, body and spirit and satisfy your senses.
Spiced Baked Pears
Ingredients
- 2 Bosc Pears, cut into ½ inch thick slices, seeds removed
- Olive oil
- Salt
Topping
- 1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
- ¼ cup chopped walnuts or almonds
- ¼ cup raisins (optional)
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp allspice
- pinch of nutmeg
- 2 tbsp butter or coconut oil, room temperature
- 1.5 Tbsp maple syrup or honey
Yogurt Sauce
- 1 cup plain yogurt or non-dairy yogurt
- 1/2 tsp fresh ginger, grated or ¼ tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp turmeric (optional)
- Pinch of cardamom
- Pinch of clove
- ½ lemon zested and juiced
- 1-2 tsp of honey or maple syrup (optional, to taste)
Directions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheet with unbleached parchment paper.
- Make the topping: combine the oats with the spices and then rub the butter or coconut oil with the maple syrup into the oat mixture. Add in the raisins (if using).
- Slice pears long ways from the stem to the base into ½ inch thick slices ensuring there are no seeds.
- Spread the pear slices evenly on the baking sheet.
- Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.
- Place 2 tablespoons of oat topping in the center of each pear.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes, until pears are soft and begin to brown and topping has browned.
- Remove from oven and allow them to cool slightly.
- Whisk together yogurt sauce.
- Top pears with yogurt sauce and enjoy!
Pears: Pears are packed full of fiber. This fiber is a great pre-biotic (food for our bacteria), which can support gut health, reduce inflammation and boost up our immune system. The fiber can also help keep stools soft and assist with flushing out toxins from the digestive system.
Oats: Full of soluble fiber (beta-glucan), which has been shown to slow digestion, increase satiety, and bind to cholesterol to excrete it out of the body. Oats also have plant chemicals that act as antioxidants to reduce damaging effects of chronic inflammation.
Yogurt: The live bacteria in yogurt makes this food a probiotic. Diversifying and increasing the good bacteria in our gut can strengthen your immune system, improve your mood, heal digestive disorders and boost overall health. The fermentation of bacteria breaks down the lactose in the milk into lactic acid making it easier to digest especially for people who are lactose intolerant.
Cinnamon: It has been shown to enhance motor function and normalize neurotransmitter levels. It can help improve insulin sensitivity and maintain stable blood sugar by interfering with numerous digestive enzymes that slow the breakdown of carbohydrates in the GI tract.
Allspice: Has been shown to help improve digestion and relieve gas and constipation. The glycosides and polyphenols have shown to have antibacterial, hypotensive, and nerve pain reduction properties.
Nutmeg: Shown to boost our mood by increasing levels of serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine to decrease stress. It has also been shown to help relieve pain and relax blood vessels to lower blood pressure.
Ginger: Ginger’s bioactive compound 6-gingerol has shown to have the ability to modulate cellular pathways to provide cancer prevention as well as a potential therapeutic application for treatment. It also improves lipid metabolism which decreases the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
Turmeric: Along with being one of the most powerful natural anti-inflammatory substances it can also boost cognition. Turmeric has been linked to improving brain function and lowering the risk of brain diseases. It is also an anti-stressor by increasing secretion of dopamine and serotonin.
Cardamom: A relative of ginger and turmeric, with very similar health benefits. It can also help normalize blood pressure and lower risk of stroke by relaxing the heart muscles. It can also help treat digestive issues by protecting the stomach lining.
Clove: Very high in manganese, which is an essential mineral for maintaining brain function, nervous system support and strengthening bones. Clove is one of the most potent natural antioxidant substances. It helps modulate blood sugar levels by increasing the uptake of the sugar into the cells and improve liver and pancreas function.
If there is extra oat topping, you can bake it in the oven at 300 degrees for 20 minutes for homemade granola.
