Grilled Pears + Bananas with Salted Brown Sugar and Pecans
On Sunday morning I woke up to a quiet house. My husband had left by 6am and the kids spent the night with their grandparents. And as much as I was begging myself to sleep in, I knew there would be no chance of making it later than 7:30am. So I curled up in my daughters bed (she has the best view, and I was missing my babes) slowly drank my coffee, watched a few mind numbing hours of Netflix and flipped through Izy's new cookbook, Top with Cinnamon.
Her blog has been a long time favorite of mine, and the girl is only 18. Basically, she is amazing. Her work is beautiful. And this cookbook is breathtaking. While I have a long list of recipes to make out of this new book, I knew, on this cold lonely morning, that her grilled fruit with salted brown sugar was the exact place to start. I puttered around my kitchen wearing big cozy socks, my glasses and still holding onto my second cup of coffee, which by now has been re-warmed for the 5th time. The cookbook calls for peaches, creme fraiche or ice cream. Peach season is long gone and my kitchen is overfilled with pears, so I made the swap, and added greek yogurt. Trying my hardest to make this lovely dessert acceptable for breakfast.
It turned out beautifully. The bananas become custard like while the salted brown sugar turns to caramel. Topped with chopped pecans, a bit of coconut and a big scoop of greek yogurt. This was the perfect solo breakfast on a cold fall morning. I will be making this again and again.
Grilled Pears + Bananas with Salted Brown Sugar and Pecans
adapted from Top With Cinnamon
serves 6
3 ripe pears (I choose seckel pears because of their cute and small)
3 bananas
4 1/2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon flaky sea salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons raw sugar
optional toppings:
pecans or walnuts
flaked or shredded coconut
greek yogurt
ice cream!
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Halve the pears and scoop out the core and seeds. Halve the bananas still in their skin. Place the halved fruit cut side up on a large baking dish.
In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, vanilla, salt, and cinnamon. Divide the mixture over the cut fruit, spreading it into a even layer. Cook in the oven for 25 minutes.
Increase your oven to 500 degrees. Remove the fruit from the oven, basting the fruit with the melted brown sugar juice. Sprinkle the raw sugar over top of the fruit. Once the oven has reached 500, place the fruit back into the oven and cook for another 3-5 minutes.
Serve with pecans, coconut and greek yogurt. And try to share.