Honey recipes
Honey baked pears with walnuts and yogurt
A warm pear, a few toasted walnuts and a cool spoonful of yogurt make a dessert that needs very little fuss. Choose pears that are ripe enough to smell fragrant but still firm enough to hold their shape in the oven.
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From the honey kitchen
Honey baked pears with walnuts and yogurt
2 portions · 4 pear halves Easy
- Prep
- 10 min
- Cook / bake
- 30 min
- Total time
- 40 min
Equipment: Small baking dish, teaspoon or melon baller, knife and small bowl.
Ingredients
Amounts are for the yield above. 1 tbsp = 15 ml, 1 tsp = 5 ml; use level measures for dry ingredients.
Pears & filling
- 2 large firm-ripe pears
- 30 g runny honey
- 30 g walnuts, roughly chopped
- 10 g unsalted butter, melted
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tbsp water (30 ml)
To serve
- 100 g plain Greek yogurt
Step by step
Prepare the pears
Heat the oven to 180°C / 160°C fan / 350°F. Wash and halve the pears from stalk to base. Scoop out the cores with a teaspoon or melon baller, leaving the halves intact. Cut a tiny sliver from the rounded underside if needed so they sit steadily.
Mix the filling
Combine the walnuts, honey, melted butter and cinnamon. Place the pear halves cut-side up in a small baking dish and divide the filling between the hollows. Spoon any remaining honey mixture over the cut surfaces.
Bake until tender
Pour the water into the base of the dish, not over the filling. Bake for 25–35 minutes, until a small knife slides easily into the thickest part of a pear. Check after 20 minutes: if the walnuts darken too quickly, loosely cover the dish with foil.
Add a cool contrast
Let the pears stand for a couple of minutes, then divide between two plates. Spoon over the warm juices and add the Greek yogurt beside, rather than baking it with the pears. Serve while the fruit is warm and the yogurt cool.
Ripeness matters more than the variety
Firm-ripe Conference or Bosc pears are useful choices, but shape and ripeness matter more than the name on the label. Rock-hard pears take longer; very soft pears can collapse. If your pears are large, keep cooking gently until the flesh is tender rather than relying on the suggested time.
Honey can vary in strength. A light blossom honey keeps the pear flavour at the centre; a more aromatic variety gives the cooking juices a deeper character. No extra sugar is needed in this version.
Small changes, same simple method
For a nut-free version, leave out the walnuts and fill the hollows with the honey, butter and cinnamon mixture. There will be less crunch, but the basic method stays the same. If serving someone with an allergy, check every packaged ingredient and avoid cross-contact.
The pears are best warm from the oven. Refrigerate leftovers within two hours at 4°C or colder and use within two days, keeping the yogurt separate. Rewarm the pears gently with a splash of water so the juices do not catch.
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