Spiced Baked Pears - cooking recipe

Ingredients

9 tablespoons craisins
6 tablespoons walnuts, chopped
3/4 teaspoon orange peel, grated
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup water
3 tablespoons butter
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
6 bartlett pears

Preparation

Core the pears and set inside a baking dish. An old fashioned peeler with the pointy tip works well for this.
Combine the craisins, walnuts and orange peel. Set aside.
In a saucepan, combine the rest of the ingredients over medium-low heat for 2-5 minutes or until combined and bubbly.
Take a pinch of your craisin mix and stuff into bottom of each pear. Stir in the rest of the craisin mix into your bubbly sauce.
Ladle the hot sauce into each pear.
Bake, uncovered, in a 350 degree oven till the pears are soft. (Usually 30-40 minutes) Check on the pears halfway through. If they look like they are going to burn, cover with foil till the last 5 minutes.
Let stand at least 5 minutes. Put each pear on a plate then ladle some of the escaped sauce over the pear and drizzle around the plate for presentation.
Tip: If you don't have any orange peel handy, substitute orange juice for the water.
Tip: The sauce will escape through the bottom. Don't sweat it. Just ladle it back in after baking. The nut/craisin mix in the bottom helps with this.
Tip: I know the baking time is a little ambiguous, be we move around a lot and I've made this in several different ovens. It's hard to \"kill\" these. Just test the pears with a fork. When the tops get that pretty caramel color and they're soft, they're ready.
Tip: This works with any pear, just adjust the baking time depending on the firmness of the pear. Firmer=longer. I like Bartlett pears because they're fat and stand up on their own better.