Baked Pears with Custard Sauce

Recipe courtesy of LeighAnn&Vinny

For the custard sauce:

2 cups milk

6 egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon crème de cacao, Cointreau, Grand Marnier or other liquer (you can substitute vanilla extract (essence).

For the pears:

2 cups sugar

2 cups water

1 piece fresh ginger, about 3 inches long, peeled and cut into 4 pieces

Juice of 1 lemon

8 - 10 small or medium ripe but firm pears such as Comice, Bartlett or Bosc

Small fresh mint sprigs for garnish

To make the custard sauce, in a heavy saucepan over medium heat, warm the milk just until bubbles appear along the edges of the pan. Remove from the heat. In a bowl, combine the egg yolks and sugar and whisk until very light. Continuing to beat, gradually add the hot milk. Pour into the saucepan and place over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring, just until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from the heat and pour into a clean bowl; stir for a few seconds. Stir in the liqueur and cover with plastic wrap placed directly on the surface of the custard to prevent a skin from forming. Set aside to cool.

Preheat the oven to 350.

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the sugar and 2 cups water. Bring to a boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Add the ginger, reduce the heat to low, and cook at a bare simmer, uncovered, until the ginger is translucent, 20 - 25 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Meanwhile, place the lemon juice in a bowl. Peel the pears, cut in half length-wise, and remove the core and stem and blossom ends. Place in the bowl and turn in the lemon juice to coat well. Arrange the pear halves in a large, shallow baking dish core side up. Spoon the ginger syrup over the pears. Bake, basting every 5 -6 minutes with the pan syrup, until tender 20 - 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool to room temperature.

To serve, divide the pear halves among the dessert plates. Top with the custard sauce and garnish with mint springs.

Serves 8 - 10.