Baked Pears with Vegan Cashew Creme Sauce

I've had the idea to make this recipe for awhile- I thought about it after having an apple crisp dessert with vanilla ice cream at a restaurant one night. I wanted to make a recipe that was healthier, but still was reminiscent of the vanilla, cinnamon, and sweetness you get from an apple crisp or an apple pie. I decided to go with pear instead of apple because I found these delicious looking pears at the grocery store. This dessert is such a great balance of sweetness and spice. It satisfies the sweet tooth while being dairy, gluten, and refined sugar free. In fact, the only sugar you will get from this recipe is the natural sugar from the pear and a tad bit of sugar from the real maple syrup.

Ingredients:

 1 pear, cut in half

1 tbsp maple syrup

½ tsp cinnamon, divided

¼ cup walnuts or pecans, crushed into small pieces

½ cup cashews, soaked for 2 hours

¼ cup filtered water

1 tbsp monkfruit

¼ tsp vanilla extract

pinch of sea salt

Directions:

1.     Preheat oven to 350 degrees. While the oven is preheating, blend the cashews, water, monkfruit, 1/4  tsp cinnamon, vanilla extract, and sea salt in a blender and set in the fridge.

2.     Place the pear, peal side down, on a baking sheet and sprinkle with 1/4 tsp cinnamon. Bake for 10 minutes.

3.     Pull pears out, drizzle each one with maple syrup and walnuts or pecans. Place back in oven for 15-20 minutes, until pears are very soft.

4.     Take pears out of the oven and scoop the cashew crème on top of each. Sprinkle extra cinnamon or maple syrup on top if you would like.

With love,

Ashley