Serves: 4
Total Calories: 158

4 pears
4 tablespoons honey

1. Cut tops off pears, about 1 inch down, and reserve as lids. Core each pear with a fruit corer to make a deep cavity, but do not cut clear through.

2. Fill cavities with honey and replace the tops.

3. Place pears upright in individual heatproof dishes. Steam until tender (see HOW-TO, _Steaming). (Depending on their size and ripeness, this will take anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes.)

4. Serve pears hot, in their steaming dishes.

NOTE: This not only makes a simple and excellent dessert, but is soothing to the throat as well, and can be taken for coughs and colds.

VARIATIONS:
* For the pears, substitute apples.
* In step 2, add with the honey, 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon for each pear. Or omit the honey entirely and use 1 teaspoon cinnamon instead.
* In step 2, stuff the pears with a mixture of chopped California dates and blanched walnut meats. (Allow about 1/4 cup of each for 4 pears.) Then spoon honey over each pear and steam as in step 3.
* Halve and core the pears. Place each, cut-side down, on a heatproof platter and coat with the honey. Then sprinkle each half with 1/2 teaspoon preserved ginger candy, minced. Steam as in step 3.

The Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook. ©1994 by Gloria Bley Miller.

Nutritional Facts:

Serves: 4
Total Calories: 158
Calories from Fat: 0

More Recipes from the Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook Cookbook:
*Sweet Dishes
Almond Cookies
Almond Float I
Almond Float II
Banana Gelatin
Eight Precious Pudding
Eight Precious Pudding: Fruit and Nut Combinations
Eight Precious Pudding: Sweetened Water
Ginger Soup
Ginger Soup: Dumplings
Glazed Chestnut Balls
Glazed Whole Chestnuts
Green Pea Pudding
Honeyed Apples
Honeyed Apples: Syrup Mixture A
Honeyed Apples: Syrup Mixture B
Honeyed Apples: Syrup Mixture C
Honeyed Bananas
Honeyed Crab Apples
Hot Lotus Tea
Peking Dust I
Peking Dust II
Peking Dust: Glazed Fruit
Pineapple Gelatin
Sesame Seed Cookies
Spiced Roasted Peanuts
Steamed Pears
Steamed Red Date Cake
Steamed Sponge Cake
Sugared Chestnut Balls
Sugared Walnuts
Sweet Almond Tea I
Sweet Almond Tea II
Sweet Almond Tea III
Sweet Grapefruit Tea
Sweet Orange Tea I
Sweet Orange Tea II
Sweet Peanut Soup
Sweet Pineapple Tea
Sweet Walnut Tea
Sweetened Water
Turkish Barley Pudding
Water Chestnut Pudding