Pear scones and homemade caramel sauce, Harvest pear crisp

So, after editing the photos and narrowing it down as much as I could, here are the delicious and easy pear desserts I made.

There are quite a few photos, but I'll keep the directions brief. I'll post the links to the actual recipes at the end of each dessert.

First, the Harvest Pear Crisp. It's like apple or peach crisp, but with pears, of course! I started with the pears I picked from dad's tree...

Harvest Pear Crisp

 I washed them, and sliced them up and cut off the hard core and end pieces. You could peel them, too, but I left the skins on. After they're done, you can't really tell there's skin on them, so it saves a little time, plus you're getting all of the good fiber.
This recipe calls for about 3 pounds of sliced pears. These pears were huge, so about 4 1/2 of them yielded what I needed (The other 1/2 is used for the scones).

Gather all of your ingredients. You'll use 1 Tbsp cornstarch, 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/4 c chopped walnuts, and 1/2 tsp salt.

 You'll also need 1/2 c packed brown sugar, 1/3 c flower, 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice, 1/3 c regular oats, 1/3 c white sugar and 3 Tbsp chilled butter, cut into small pieces.

Toss the pears in the lemon juice, then mix the 1 tsp cinnamon, granulated sugar and cornstarch with a whisk and toss well with the pears to coat.

In a food processor, combine the flour, the 1/2 tsp cinnamon, brown sugar and salt. Pulse until combined.

                                    Add the butter and pulse until it resembles a course meal.

           
                                                                    Add the oats...

                                             And walnuts...

                                                     

Pulse well to blend. Place the pears in a baking dish. I used two round dishes, but you can use a two quart baking dish, too.

                                                Sprinkle the mixture evenly over the pears.

Bake in a 375* oven for about 40 minutes or until the pears are tender and the topping is golden brown. It smelled wonderful, but tasted even better. Try it with some ice cream. It was a wonderful treat!

I found this pear crisp recipe at myrecipes.com. Super easy and they provide all the nutritional information, too.

At the same time I made the crisp, I prepared my ingredients and mixed up the scones. It was that easy!

 Pear Scones

First I sifted together my 1 3/4 c flower, 1/3 c packed brown sugar, 2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, and pinch of salt in a large bowl. I don't have a sifter, so I used my mesh strainer instead. It worked just as well. I just put everything in and used a spoon to break up the brown sugar and sift it through.

                                              This is what it looked like when I was done...

                                                Then I added my chilled 1/3 cup of butter.

 I mixed that with my (clean) hands. It was quick and not as messy as you'd think. And it incorporates the ingredients very well.

                      Next, you have to beat one egg with 1/2 cup half and half or cream...

                                                             Until well blended...

 Pour the egg/cream mixture into the dry ingredients, mix until blended, then add 1 cup chopped pears. You can peel the pears first, I left my skins on...we don't mind the fruit skins. We didn't even notice it in either recipe. Fold in your chopped pears really well. (You could add some of your leftover chopped walnuts now, too. Boy, I wish I had. I will next time, for sure!)

                                      Drop large spoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet.

 Bake at 375* for about 15 minutes, until golden brown. Mine came out perfect.

  Scones can sometimes be dry and not too flavorful, the ones I've had from a mix, anyway. But these...these are perfect. This recipe is from allrecipes.com.

These are great by themselves, or you can try them with a drizzle of homemade caramel sauce.

                                         Caramel Sauce (in the MICROWAVE!)

I made mine by following this recipe from Tracy's Culinary Adventures (click to go straight to her blog, the directions are great, but I was confused on the corn syrup). I just wanted to show you that it CAN be done. And (after two mistakes by me and three batches later because I was trying to figure out the corn syrup) it was perfect.

So...You stir the 1 cup sugar, 2 Tbsp (LIGHT)corn syrup, 2 Tbsp water and 1/8 tsp lemon juice in a  2-cup microwave-safe measuring cup or glass bowl. Clear is best so you can see the syrup caramelize to the right color. I put mine in the microwave for 5 minutes. It came out just like her picture.

 Then I watched it for about 5 minutes or so, so that it had time to darken to the right color. (It got a little darker than this.)

  I added my 1/2 c hot heavy cream, slowly (notice how I picked desserts with all pretty much the same ingredients? Now I won't have to figure out what to do with an almost full little carton of heavy whipping cream--no waste! Well, not counting the 'bad' batches I made. Oh well, live and learn, right?)

                                                It bubbles up as you stir to incorporate.

                     Then I added my 1 Tbsp UNsalted butter and slowly mixed that until melted...

Then I really stirred it to get it all mixed well and thickened. I let it sit to cool, watching it every so often to be sure it wasn't "sugaring" like my first batch. See, I used the light syrup first, didn't cook it long enough. I went ahead and made the batch, but it was really light. I thought it was because I wasn't using dark syrup, and apparently the sugar hadn't boiled down enough, so, while it almost tasted like caramel, it wasn't close enough, then it "sugared" turning gritty and inedible...so I dumped it, wasting it :(   Then I made a new batch with the dark corn syrup (after calling my husband who, thankfully, was at the store already :) to grab me some dark syrup). I made a batch with the dark, cooked it too long because I didn't cook the first batch long enough and burned it. That stinks. Alot. For quite awhile. Anyway, not to be conquered by some sugar and water and corn syrup, I tried again. This time having faith in the light corn syrup. I read the directions very closely, and it turned out perfectly. Microwave for about 4-8 minutes according to how hot your microwave gets...or until you see it taking on some color. 5 minutes for me. It. was. perfect.
I let it cool and just before it got too solidified, I put it in a storage jar.
Can't wait to slice these fresh Honey crisp apples I just got!

Care for a delicious Pear Scone drizzled in warm caramel?

OMG, it really was divine. Hope you try these recipes, and you can easily substitute apples...it is apple picking season, after all!

Stay tuned for more scone recipes I'm wanting to try...I can't wait!

Enjoy!