Amanda Laird: Rum-baked pears with chestnut puree and cream

Rum-baked pears with chestnut puree and cream. Photo / Babiche Martens

Serves 4

Butter
4 pears
2 Tbs rum
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cinnamon sticks
2 Tbs brown sugar
¾ cup water
2 Tbs sweetened chestnut puree (available from gourmet food stores)
½ cup cream, whipped

1 Preheat oven to 160C. Generously butter a baking dish.

2 Halve the pears and lay in the dish. Pour over the rum and vanilla, tuck in the cinnamon sticks and scatter over the sugar. Pour the water into the bottom of the dish then bake for an hour. Remove from the oven, cover with tinfoil and continue to cook for a further hour.

3 Fold the chestnut puree into the cream then serve with the warm pears.