Five Spice Poached Pears with Maple Chantilly Cream Are the New Dinner Party Showstopper
These red-wine poached pears become a restaurant-quality dessert with notes of five spice and orange peel, paired with maple-sweetened cream and roasted almonds.
- Updated on:
- Original post date: 10/15/2025
Testing These Wine-Poached Pears
Testing Status: COMPLETE
A SEASONAL SWEETS SOCIAL MEDIA SERIES RECIPE.
For most of my life I haven’t liked cooked fruit — or really much fruit at all — I guess I just didn’t eat as much of it as I did vegetables and other foods. But as I widen my palate, I’m coming around to it more, whether that’s peach pie, roasted apples, or, well, red wine-poached pears.
I had a general flavor profile in mind for this recipe, but I wasn’t 100% sure where I wanted to go with it until I poached some pears in just wine seasoned with five spice. Pears always surprise me with how sweet they are, so the first thing I realized was that my maple Chantilly cream didn’t need too much maple to make an impact. I also felt like upping the saltiness, and I really wanted a crunch. While I was worried nuts would overpower the dish, I went ahead with roasted almonds, which were FAN-FRICKIN-TASTIC with the five spice, maple, and salty notes.
The part that was admittedly new territory for me was gauging how long a particular pear would take to cook. I found that soft, yellowed pears needed under 20 minutes, while unripe, green pears needed upwards of 40, depending on the texture you prefer. I found the difference in results negligible at best, so I’d grab the yellow pears if I were you.
Some Tips:
1) If you’re impatient, grab pears that have already ripened till yellow and pretty soft. These cook in simmering poaching liquid in about 15 minutes.
2) After cooking the pears completely, you can store the pears in the poaching liquid overnight in the refrigerator and enjoy this same dessert with cold pear halves.
3) If you want to store the poaching liquid, strain it into a container and keep it for up to 2 weeks. It’s delicious on vanilla ice cream, or you could try making an interesting cocktail with it.
4) Use a spicy, dry red wine. Something dry but full-bodied with lots of spice notes really helps in this recipe. I’ve used the Chateau St. Michelle Cabernet Sauvignon blend, as well as the Three Sisters Vineyards Cynthiana-Norton.
5) I use a 3-quart saucepan for this recipe.
Recipe
Five Spice Poached Pears with Maple Chantilly
Equipment
- 1 Kitchen scale
- 1 3-quart saucepan
- 1 medium mixing bowl
- 1 Chef’s knife
- 1 large stirring spoon
- 1 teaspoon
- 1 whisk
Ingredients
Poached Pears
- 1 large orange
- 750 milliliters dry red wine 1 standard bottle or 3 cups
- 288 grams dark brown sugar 1.5 cup
- 7.2 grams five spice powder plus extra for dusting (1.5 teaspoons)
- 1.2 grams coarse Kosher salt 1/4 teaspoon
- 2 Bartlett pears
- Roasted slivered almonds for crunchy garnish
Maple Chantilly Cream
- 120 milliliters heavy cream ½ cup
- 15 milliliters real maple syrup (1 tablespoon
- 1 pinch table salt
Instructions
- Place a medium mixing bowl in the freezer.
- Peel and juice one large orange. Place both the peels and juice into a saucepan. I use a 3-quart pot. Pour the dry red wine, brown sugar, five spice powder, and Kosher salt, into the pot. Place the pot over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally to bring it to a boil.
- Reduce the heat to low and allow the mixture to simmer gently for 15 minutes, continuing to stir occasionally. At about the 10 minute mark, peel the two Bartlett pears. Add the skins directly to the simmering pot. Slice the pears in half vertically (from stalk to stalk end), and use a spoon to core the pear halves.
- At 15 minutes, add the pears to the simmering mixture. Cook until fork-tender: If soft and ripened, cook for 15-20 minutes. If green and firm, cook for up to 40 minutes. Flip the pear halves occasionally. When finished, transfer the pears to any dish and set aside.
- Make the Chantilly cream (sweetened whipped cream). Remove the mixing bowl from the freezer, and add the heavy cream, maple syrup, and table salt to the bowl. Whisk vigorously until your preferred whipped cream texture. I like medium peaks, where it’s malleable but still light and delicate.
- Plate the dish how you’d like. I smear the whipped cream onto the center of a plate, cover it with roasted slivered almonds, place the pear half in the middle cut-side-up, drizzle some poaching syrup in the cored center, and dust the top with five spice powder.
