Poire Belle Hélène {Poached Pears with Chocolate}
An indulgent, classic French dessert made of poached pears smothered in dark chocolate sauce with a side of vanilla ice cream.
Servings: 4 people
Calories: 928kcal
Ingredients
For the poached pears:
- 1 bottle sweet white wine (Riesling, Prosecco, or other sparkling wine)
- 1 cup water
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 4 firm pears such as Bosc or Bartlett
For the dark chocolate sauce:
- 8 oz bittersweet chocolate chopped (or dark)
- 7 Tbsp unsalted butter softened
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1/4 cup hot water
- 1 tsp vanilla
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Peel pears up to the stem and core from the bottom.
- Bring water, wine, and sugar to a boil in a large dutch oven or saucepan.
- Add pears and reduce heat to low.
- Cover and simmer for about 10-12 minutes or until pears are tender, but not too soft. Let sit in the poaching liquid until cool, about 30 minutes.
- Remove pears and refrigerate until ready to use.
- Meanwhile, combine the chocolate, butter, sugar, cream, and hot water in the top of a double boiler.
- Simmer on a medium low heat and stir until chocolate is smooth, about 5 minutes.
- Remove from heat and add the vanilla and a pinch of salt. Stir well.
- Put a scoop or two of vanilla ice cream and one poached pear in a dish. Drizzle liberally with chocolate sauce and serve immediately.
Notes
- Nutritional values include the entire bottle of wine, which will be discarded once the pears are poached.
- Nutritional value is for 1/4 of chocolate sauce. You should have plenty left over.
- Remaining chocolate sauce will keep about a week in a covered container in the fridge.