Click HERE for the recipe
I love a delicious buttery pear. And more than this, I adore a delicious poached pear with a dark chocolate sauce poured over it. This is called Poire Belle Hélène in France and is meant to have been created by Auguste Escoffier around 1864. It consists of peeled pears poached in a delicious syrup then served with a hot chocolate sauce and most times with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on its side. It is really a dessert I love for its simplicity and wonderful flavours. I wish I found it more often on restaurant menus because then I am sure I would order dessert instead of usually skipping it.
On a recent trip to France, I brought back a small tin of tonka beans. It is sometimes used as a vanilla substitute. Its fragrance is really wonderful and I often find myself going to the spice drawer and opening the tin just to smell the beans. I find that is goes magically well with a good dark chocolate, which is something I also happened to have brought back from that same trip. I decided to use the tonka beans for this recipe, grated one finely and mixed it with the dark chocolate sauce. It really did wonders and I feel like adding it to all my chocolate sauces and desserts from now on.
I made my poaching syrup extra special by using a vanilla bean brought back from Madagascar by my uncle (I have quite a few of them wrapped carefully that I really cherish, they have the most divine vanilla smell).
I feel that Poire Belle Hélène is a very simple dessert yet, to me, it is really luxurious with all the amazing flavours and the richness and glossiness of the dark chocolate sauce.
Have you ever tasted this dessert?
If not, give it a try and even if you have, check my recipe below, the tonka twist to the dark chocolate sauce is really worth it.
I made my poaching syrup extra special by using a vanilla bean brought back from Madagascar by my uncle (I have quite a few of them wrapped carefully that I really cherish, they have the most divine vanilla smell).
I feel that Poire Belle Hélène is a very simple dessert yet, to me, it is really luxurious with all the amazing flavours and the richness and glossiness of the dark chocolate sauce.
Have you ever tasted this dessert?
If not, give it a try and even if you have, check my recipe below, the tonka twist to the dark chocolate sauce is really worth it.
Pear Belle Hélène with Tonka Chocolate Sauce Recipe (Gluten Free, Vegetarian)
Click HERE for the recipe
