Cinnamon Pears

Cinnamon Pears

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Cinnamon Pears – Zimtbirnen

Cinnamon Pears with cranberries are a typical German side dish for poultry or venison. You have two choices. You can buy a can of pear halves and fill them with canned jellied cranberry sauce or you go The Oma Way and make the pears from scratch. If you are short of time or fresh ingredients, you can combine canned pears with homemade cranberries or vice versa. Either way, they taste delicious.

Ingredients for Cinnamon Pears:

  • 6 pears
  • 1 l (4.23 cups) of water (or as much as you need to keep pears covered in your pot)
  • 150 g (5.29 oz) of sugar
  • 2 sticks of cinnamon
  • 6 whole cloves
  • 1 star aniseed OR ½ tablespoon of aniseed

Pear Recipe:

Bring water with sugar to a boil in a saucepan. Wash and peel the pears. Cut them in halves, remove the core, and place them in the boiling water. The water must cover the pears. Add the cinnamon sticks, cloves, and anise on top and let the pears simmer for about 10–15 minutes (depending on the type of pears and how ripe they are).  Test with a fork to find out if the pears are completely cooked. Once cooked, take the pears out of the water and wipe them dry.

preparation of cinnamon pears

Ingredients for Cranberry Sauce:

  • 680 g (24 oz) of cranberries
  • 150 g (5.3 oz) of sugar
  • 3 tablespoons of cherry liqueur OR Kirschwasser
  • 6 tablespoons of orange juice from fresh-squeezes oranges OR bottled OJ
  • 1 ½ tablespoons of corn starch OR potato starch
  • 2 tablespoons of water

Preparation of cranberries:

Mix the orange juice, cherry liqueur (Kirschwasser), and sugar together and bring to a boil in a saucepan. Add the washed cranberries and let it simmer for about 5 minutes. Pass the berry mix through a sieve or food mill and return it back to the stove to boil. Dissolve the cornstarch in 2 tablespoons of water. Thicken the cranberry sauce by adding the dissolved starch into the saucepan while your sauce still simmers. Once you have reached the desired consistency, remove the cranberries from the stove and let cool.

cooking cranberries for the cinnamon pears

Final preparation of Cinnamon Pears:

Once cooled,  fill a decorating bag with the cranberry sauce and add a star-shaped tip. Squeeze the sauce on top of the pears. (You can also apply the cranberry sauce using two spoons). Use the rest of the cranberries as an edible decoration.

photo 26

Short cut—canned pears and cranberry jelly:

No time? No problem. Simply follow the same preparation as above. Instead of adding the cranberries straight from the can, pass them through a sieve before filling and decorating the pears. This will help create a finer sauce that is easier to dispense and much more appetizing. Enjoy!

You can serve the pears as a side dish with meat, poultry or with Oma’s Stuffed Turkey.

serving cinnamon pears