Ghostly Poached Pears: A Healthy Halloween Recipe

Woooo oooo...it's Halloween!

Treats at Halloween don't have to be unhealthy and loaded with sugar, here's a spook'tacular natural dessert recipe for poached pear ghosts.

Read on for the recipe, if you dare....!

 

I saw this recipe on a Tesco newsletter email, and just had top make it, these spectres are just too cute!

Pears are in season right now so this is a great recipe for autumn, and the spiced poaching juice will warm you up after a cold evening of trick or treating.

I didn't have some of the ingredients listed in the recipe, so swapped them for some store cupboard essentials I did have.

Ingredients (serves 4)

4 pears (ripe but not overly ripe)
Apple juice
Red grape juice
Sultanas
Almonds (slivered)
All spice
Cloves
Vanilla extract.

To make:

Peel the pears, being careful to keep the stalk intact if possible. Slice the bottom flat so the pears can stand up.

Place the pears in a pan and cover with apple juice.
Add half a teaspoon of All Spice, a clove and half a teaspoon of vanilla extract.

Bring to the boil and then lower the heat to simmer for 15 to 20 minutes until the pears are just soft.

Remove the pears and continue simmering the apple juice for another 10 minutes to reduce it.

In a small pan, bring 200ml of red grape juice to the boil and then simmer to reduce. It needs to be thicker to make 'blood'........!

Add faces to your pear ghosts. Make 2 holes for eyes with a skewer and push small pieces of sultana into the hole.

Make a scary mouth with jagged teeth from slivered almonds.

Serve your scary apparitions with the reduced apple juice and 'blood' dripping from their mouths......Happy Halloween!