Green Tea Poached Pears with Fruit Juice Glaze & Pine Nuts

Adapted from Clean Food by Terry Walters

I get really excited by desserts that taste great and are so healthy that I can eat them for breakfast. I had a lot of fun making this recipe, eating it, and drinking the cook water afterwards! If I had to choose between Maple Poached Pears and these, I would choose the maple poached, but this is a fantastic recipe too.

6 cups water

3 green tea bags

1/2 light agave nectar or maple syrup

6 pears

1/2 cup toasted pine nuts

Syrup Reduction Glaze:

1 and 1/2 cup cherry, raspberry or pomegranate juice

1 cup water

1/2 cup light agave nectar or maple syrup

In a large pot, bring the water to a boil. Add tea bags and syrup, remove from heat, cover, and steep for no longer than 5 minutes. Meanwhile, wash and cut the pears in half. If they are ripe enough, remove the core and stem with a spoon. If they are too firm, you may need to quartre them and cut out the core.

Remove the tea bags from the pot and add the pears. Bring to a boil and poach until soft, about 6 to 10 minutes, depending on ripeness.

Meanwhile, to make the glaze, bring juice, water and syrup to a hard boil and let it reduce until you have a thick syrup and it is about a quarter of the original amount.

Toast the pine nuts for 3-4 minutes or until lightly browned.

Remove the pears with a slotted spoon, drizzle with syrup glaze, sprinkle with pine nuts and serve.

Drink the tea, syrup, pear cook water! I don't add sweetener to my tea, so it was a special treat - I just could not waste something so healthy and yummy.