Red Wine Pears & Marscapone Filling
{Electric Pressure Cooker Recipe}

I thought I would venture into the dessert category for this post.  This is actually my first time making any kind of dessert in the pressure cooker.  And yes, it was a success! I’ve also ventured away from my International theme as well.  But this recipe is worth it.  It will wow your family or your guests because it looks all fancy and ooh-la-la, but it’s totally easy and super tasty.  Who would pass up on that?!  It makes you want to get all dressed up in a nice frilly dress if you’re a girl, and maybe the boys will even feel like wearing a tie!  (HA!  Getting a guy to wear a tie is like telling them they’re getting a root canal.)

My BFF gave me this recipe.  She actually made it for a dinner party several years ago.  And I always remembered it because it was so yummy.  Back then, she slaved away on the stove-top for about an hour making sure the pears were cooked through with the wine.   I decided to give it a go in the pressure cooker instead and it cut the time down by about half.  (If you don’t count the over-night refrigeration time.)
{As a side-note, someone accused me of stealing this recipe from their pressure cooker blog, and that I should give her credit or she’ll sue me.  Well, just to make things clear and so that the stupidity doesn’t spread; I got my recipe from my friend.  She got it from the Food Network from Michael Chiarello.  The End!!!}

So let’s get cookin’!

There are two parts to this recipe.  The “poaching” of the pears.  And the Marscapone Filling.
Let’s start with the pears first.

WINE & PEARS INGREDIENTS:
– 1 Fresh Vanilla Bean (Cut open and scrape out the microscopic beans and add to the wine mixture, throw in the whole stem too afterwards.)
– 2 Bay Leaves
– 2 Cloves or Star Anise
– 2 Cinnamon Sticks
– 1-2 Bottles of Red Wine
– 1-2 Cups of White Sugar
– 6 Bartlett Pears (With skin peeled)
– 1-2 Cups of Water*

Put all the spices and 1 bottle of the red wine into the main cooking pot of the pressure cooker.  Add 1 cup of the white sugar as well and give everything a good stir.  Place the pears into the mixture.  This is the part where you need to check something.  Are the pears fully immersed in the wine mixture?  Or are a bit of the tops peaking out?  If it is peaking out, add more wine and water to the mixture so the pears are fully immersed.

Close the lid to the pressure cooker and turn it counter-clockwise to lock it.  Adjust the Pressure Valve to Airtight.  Press the SET PRESSURE COOK TIME button and program the cook time to 20-minutes.  Then press START.

While the pears are going, you can take this time to make the Marscapone Cheese filling.

MARSCAPONE CHEESE INGREDIENTS:
– 16oz. Marscapone Cheese
– 1/2 Cup Whipped Cream
– 1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar
– 2 Tsp Ground Cinnamon (Not pictured; forgot it)
Ignore the butter in the picture,  it doesn’t belong there.  I’m not sure how it crawled into the photo, maybe it felt left out.  It actually goes into the wine mixture later.

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl.  Mix it well.  Then spoon it into a Piping Bag with a star tip for added prettiness.  😛  Refrigerate the mixture for now since you won’t need it just yet.

When the pears are done cooking in the pressure cooker, the machine will beep and go to Keep Warm.  Release all the pressure by setting the Valve to Exhaust.  Turn the lid clock-wise to unlock it and open.  The pears should smell pretty strong like all the wine and spice mixture but don’t worry, the taste will be more mild.  Turn the pressure cooker OFF and remove the main cooking pot with everything in it.  Set it aside to allow it to cool for a while.  Then refrigerate the whole pot for 6-12 hours or overnight.

Flash forward!

You just woke up from a good nights sleep, I hope!  Take out the pot from the refrigerator.  Remove the pears into a bowl and set aside.  Remove and discard the bay leaves, cloves or star anise and vanilla bean stem.  Ladle out about 3 cups of the wine mixture and set aside. Discard the rest of the wine mixture.
Put the 3-cups of wine you ladled out back into the main cooking pot of the pressure cooker.  Add 2 tbsp of butter and press START to turn the heating element on in the pressure cooker.  Bring the wine mixture to a boil and reduce the mixture down to about half so it’s nice and syrupy.

Using a coring tool, core out the center of each pear carefully.  Just in case you don’t know what a coring tool is, it’s pictured above.  I actually didn’t know what that was until my friend showed it to me a few years ago.  After you’ve cored each pear, place them into individual serving dishes if you like or all onto one platter, it doesn’t matter.
Take out the marscapone cheese mixture and start piping it all into the center of each pear.  If you like, you can pipe some extra next to each pear.  Garnish with some mint if you want extra fanciness.

Spoon a couple of spoons of the thickened wine mixture over the pears and serve.  Ta da!
The pears are super rich with the wine flavor and the marscapone cheese balances it perfectly.  You can also simply pair it with just whip cream or vanilla ice cream.  The skies the limit.  I super duper {heart} this dessert!!!