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Amaretto-Glazed Pear Shortcake

So easy to prepare, yet so delicious and elegant. Enjoy this comforting Amaretto-Glazed Pear Shortcake for dessert or breakfast.

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Why it works: Bartlett pear and pear share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 19 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-methylbutyl acetate, which smells fruit. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 8
Prep15 min
Cook45 min

Ingredients

Contains: milk, wheat, tree nuts (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment. Drain the pears, reserving the syrup, and cut the slices into bite-sized pieces.

  2. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Rub in the cold butter pieces with your fingertips until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs.

  3. Stir in the milk until a soft, sticky dough forms. Turn it onto a floured surface, pat it to about 1 inch (2.5 cm) thick, and cut out 8 rounds or squares.

  4. Place the rounds on the baking sheet and sprinkle the tops with the 2 tablespoons of sugar. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden and cooked through in the center. Cool slightly.

  5. While the shortcakes bake, simmer the 1/4 cup reserved pear syrup in a small saucepan for 3 to 5 minutes until slightly thickened. Remove from heat and stir in the amaretto, adding more to taste.

  6. Toss the pear pieces with the warm amaretto glaze. Split each shortcake, spoon on the glazed pears and serve warm.

By tastykitchen. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Bartlett pear + peartop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together19 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  2. Butter + milktop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together81,222 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Pear + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together598 recipes

    Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).

  4. Sugar + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together30,777 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Milk + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together12,647 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

Sugar and cinnamon share little aroma chemistry, yet 30,777 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the bartlett pear

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (syrup, flour, sugar, butter, milk, pear, cinnamon):

  1. Vanillabetter flavor fit
  2. Applebetter flavor fit
  3. Figbetter flavor fit
  4. Bartlett pearthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against syrup, flour, sugar, butter, milk, pear, cinnamon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).