Today’s recipe is a dessert: Poire belle Hélène is a beautiful looking treat made up of vanilla poached pears, served with a warm chocolate sauce, whipped cream (or vanilla ice cream) and toasted almonds. Need I say more? I personally love it. I think pear and chocolate, just like orange and chocolate, is a match made in heaven. What I love most in this dish is the balance of both flavours (the bitterness in the chocolate contrasts with the sweetness of the pear and cream/ice cream) and textures (the soft cream, the silky sauce, the crunch of the almonds and the sightly firm pears all balance out). Eating a spoonful of this dessert is a blissful experience. And, it is very easy to make. In no time (and with very little effort), you will have a very impressive dessert, perfect for any occasion! Enjoy!
Poire Belle Helene
How to make a classic French dessert: Poire Belle Helene.
Ingredients
Pears
- 4 pears peeled
- 100 gms – 3.5 oz. icing/confectioner’s sugar
- Juice of ½ lemon
- 1 vanilla pod open and scraped
- 1 lt – 4 cups water
Sauce and Decoration
- 100 gms – 3.5 oz. dark chocolate
- 80 ml – 1/3 cup heavy cream
- 50 gms – 1/3 cup sliced almonds toasted
- Sweetened whipped cream and/or Vanilla Ice cream to serve
Instructions
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Put the water into a saucepan, then stir in the sugar, lemon juice and vanilla pod. Bring to a simmer and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved.
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In the meantime, carefully peel the pears but leave the stalks intact. Then slice off a thin little disc at the base of each pear so that they can sit upright.
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Put the pears into the hot syrup in the saucepan and cover with a piece of baking paper, to make sure the pears are submerged. Simmer the pears in the syrup for 20 minutes, then, using a small skewer, test them to see if they are tender. If not, cook for a further 5 minutes and test again.
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When the pears are cooked, leave them to cool in the syrup.
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To make the sauce, put the chocolate and cream into a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water (make sure the base of the bowl doesn't touch the water). Stir constantly as the chocolate melts until the sauce is smooth and glossy.
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To serve, drain the pears and serve them with the hot chocolate sauce, some vanilla ice cream or sweetened whipped cream and toasted sliced almonds on the top.
This would the perfect dessert for me, looks amazing.
Marvelous dessert.
As a very old almond person, I must comment that your ingredient list says to use “slivered almonds toasted”. The photo show SLICED almonds toasted—which I believe would be better suited to the dish.
Perhaps it is just a regional designation
Awww thank you so much for picking that up and letting me know. It’s definitely sliced almonds and not slivered! I fixed the recipe. 🙂
Oh my God, your pictures are amazing! This looks so delicious. Can’t wait to try your recipe!