Recipe Swap: Poached Pears

Here we are again! Every month, my friend Christina over at Burgwell General Store releases an original recipe from a vintage cookbook, All Day Singin' And Dinner On The Ground, a junk store find, and the team of Recipe Swappers each update and remake it in our own creative ways.

This time around, we embraced "Sorghum Molasses Cookies". Our rotating crew is immensely talented and diverse, as you'll see in the interpretations of this humble recipe by: Dennis, Toni, Shumaila, Alex, Lora, Lindsay, Mari, Crissy and Lauren, Pola, Jamie, Claire,Shari, Joy, Monique, Linda, Priya, Rachel, Alli, Katy, Emily, Krissy and Jaclyn. Visit the swap page for everyone's bios and please visit all of our blogs to let us all know what you think of our inventions!

I haven't been feeling my best lately - and maybe it's to do with the weather or maybe it's to do with over indulgence or maybe it's stress and the fact that I am a little (wait scrap that) a lot 'run off my feet' and stressed out at the moment.

So when I saw this recipe for 'cookies' I thought, 'I don't want to make cookies', I'm trying not to eat junkie foods at the moment. So I scan through the ingredients and pray for a little for inspiration ... cinnamon, ginger and molasses are the things that jump out to me. Well I don't have molasses, but I have maple syrup in the cupboard ... same same but different.

Are they really the same? No, molasses is a thick syrup that is a by-product from processing sugar from sugar beets or sugarcane. Maple syrup is made from the sap of maple trees that has been boiled down. Both are quite tasty :-)Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_maple_syrup_the_same_as_molasses#ixzz1UOcENSd5 But in further research people suggest that you can use maple syrup as a substitute for molasses. Molasses substitutes: dark corn syrup OR maple syrup (works well in gingerbread cookies) OR honey OR barley malt syrup (weaker flavor; use 1/3 less) OR brown sugar (Substitute 1.5 cups brown sugar for every 1 cup molasses)

So I guess I need another ingredient so I at least have 3 core ingredients that I am keeping ... sugar or coffee? I go with sugar - those pears have been sitting on my counter top for about 8 days now and I think they will need a little sweetening! I've also got my eye on the verjuice sitting in my cupboard that my Mum brought back as a gift when she went to Maggie Beers.

POACHED PEARS

375ml vurjuice
80g caster sugar
180ml maple syrup
1 lemon, zested
1/2 orange zested
1 cinnamon quill
2 tsp grated ginger
250ml water
3 brown pears

Combine the verjuice, sugar, maple syrup, lemon zest, orange zest, cinnamon, grated ginger and water in a medium saucepan. Bring to the boil over high heat and cook for 1 minute or until the sugar dissolves.

Carefully add the peeled pears to the saucepan, adding extra water if necessary to submerge the pears and then cover with a cartouche. Reduce the heat, so that the water is simmering and cook for 45 minutes. Remove from the heat, the residual heat will continue to cook the pears.

Ladle 375mls (or one and a half cups) of cooking liquid into a smaller pan and bring to the boil. Cook for 10 minutes or until syrupy.

Using a slotted spoon, remove the warm poached pears from the cooking liquid and place in serving bowls. Discard the liquid. Drizzle with syrup and serve with fresh cream or ice-cream.