Hot Chocolate Hazelnut and Pear

I have a sweet tooth, very sweet. I also like to comfort eat and as I like to bake comfort eating is very easy for me. I've had a particularly stressful last few days and as I was about to embark on an epic baking session, yes that's how stressful it was. My rugby / gaelic football playing son suggested I should eat more sensibly and handed mea pear.

Now what to do with a pear.. well when you're stressed a pear offers little respite from the world..so I sorta baked it with some chocolate and nuts..

You'll need one or two pears, depending on your stress levels.

2 Pears1

1/2 cup of Hazelnuts

2 Tablespoons of melted unsalted butter

2 teaspoons of golden caster sugar

Preheat the oven to 80dgs

Cut the pears in two and take out the seeds.

Brush the cut sides of the pears with melted butter

Sprinkle the golden caster sugar on top of the buttered sides

Place on a tray and pop into the oven for about 3mins.

Chocolate Sauce

8oz dark cooking chocolate

3 tablespoons of cream

2 tablespoons of unsalted butter

Place all three ingredients into a saucepan heat very gently over a low heat stirring constantly until all ingredients are fully mixed. Remove from heat and pour into a serving jug.

Serve the roasted pears with the hot chocolate sauce and sprinkle with hazelnuts. You can also add cream or ice cream.

I'm not at all sure that this qualifies as sensible, but it was delicious.