Pear Vanilla Ice Pop

 

Ingredients

6 ripe organic Bartlett pears

2 cups organic evaporated cane juice or sugar

1 vanilla bean

1 to 2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon salt

 

Directions

Peel and halve the pears and remove seeds with a spoon or melon baller. Combine 2 3/4 cups water and the sugar in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Split the vanilla bean and scrape the seeds into the water. Heat until the sugar is dissolved and the syrup comes to a simmer, about 3 minutes. Submerge the pears in the vanilla syrup and cover. Cook over medium heat until the pears are tender in the center when poked with a knife, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the heat. Add the lemon juice and salt. Use an immersion blender to puree the mixture. Cool the mixture 10 minutes. Pour the mixture into 16 large ice pop molds (2 1/2 to 3 ounces each) and freeze for 6 hours or overnight. Run the popsicles under warm water briefly to unmold.