Easy Poached Pears

I have really been craving pears lately.  I love Bosc pears.  I've been seeing some recipes lately for poached pears but they all looked like too much work for a weeknight dessert.  Then I found this recipe out of my absolute favorite cookbook ever "The Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook".  It seriously has a recipe for anything you can think of.  I was so excited to see this easy poached pear recipe.  The chocolate sauce recipe that goes with the pears can be used on ice cream, pound cake, with pastries or even in your coffee. 


Ingredients:
4 medium size firm, ripe pears like Bosc
1 TBSP lemon juice
4 cups water
3 TBSP vanilla extract
2 TBSP honey
1/2 cup sugar
2 drops hot water
Chocolate sauce (recipe follows)

Chocolate sauce:
1/2 cup whipping cream
4-ounces sweet baking chocolate chopped (chopped chocolate chips work OK too)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Start by squeezing the lemon juice and set it aside.  Core the pears from the bottom, cutting toward but not through, the stem end.

Cut a thin slice from the bottoms of the pears so that they stand upright.

Peel the pears and brush them with the lemon juice.  Set aside.  In a large saucepan, combine the water, vanilla and honey.  Bring to a boil.  Add the pears and cover.  Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 15-20 minutes until the pears are tender.  You will know they are done when you poke them with a fork and there is no resistance.  Remove the pears and set aside to cool.

Make the chocolate sauce when the pears are just about cooled off.  Heat the whipping cream in a heavy saucepan over medium heat until hot.  Do not boil.  Remove from heat and add the chocolate.  Stir until the chocolate has melted then stir in the vanilla. 
When ready to serve the pears place sugar in a heavy saucepan.  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar melts and the syrup is golden.  Stir in the 2 drops of water.  Let stand for 2-3 minutes. 
To serve, spoon 2 tablespoons chocolate sauce on each serving plate, place the pears on the sauce.  Working quickly, drizzle the caramelized sugar from a fork, and quickly wrap threads around the pears until a delicate web is formed.  ( My delicate webs didn't turn out so well because I did not wait for the sugar to cool enough).  Repeat with remaining pears. 

The caramelized sugar step could be omitted and it would still be delicious.