Joyce and Joan worked on a brunch item which can be served as dessert too. It is Honey Pear Parfaits. These are made with fresh pear, honey, yogurt and top with some homemade Fruity Maple Pecan Granola.

You can make the pear compote in advance and keep in the refrigerator until it’s ready to be served. All you need to do is do is to whipped up some honey yogurt and topped with some granola. Serve this in a glass for better presentation.

I love this brunch item the most. But some of the seniors remarked that it’s a bit too sweet. I guess it depends on the sweetness of the pear which you get. You may cut back on the apricot preserves or honey if you don’t have sweet tooth like me.

Ingredients

Pear Sauce:

• 4 pears
• 1/3 cup apricot preserves
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind

Topping:

• 450g plain yogurt (about 2 cups or 16oz)
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1/2 cup granola

Peel pears and chop into 1/2-inch dice. You should have about 3 cups.

Place pears, apricot preserves, water, cinnamon and vanilla extract into a medium saucepan. We added in the lemon zest too early, it should added after the pears are softened.

Squeeze the lemon juice into the pear mixture.

Simmer, loosely covered, until pears are tender – 15 to 20 minutes. We found that the pears are very juicy and release a lot of juice. So, it took us longer to boil down the liquid.Stir in the lemon zest, mix thoroughly, and set aside to cool.

We ladle the pears into serving bowls so that they can cool faster in smaller amount. Stir honey and yogurt together, set aside.Spoon a few tablespoons of yogurt into each of the serving bowls. Top with a few spoonfuls of the pear mixture, then dollop more yogurt over the top. Garnish each glass with a heaped tablespoon of granola just before serving.