Roasted Pears with Caramel Sauce

I experimented with a new recipe and I am very happy with the results. This should be a low calorie dessert for those that like to count them. I definitely plan on making this dessert again. I found this on the allrecipes.com website which was ranked at 4 1/2 stars.

Roasted Pears with Caramel Sauce

4 tablespoons butter
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
4 pears, halved and cored
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup coarsely chopped toasted pistachios (or your favorite nuts)

1. Adjust oven rack to center position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Place butter in a baking pan large enough to hold the pears in a single layer: set in the heating oven until it melts.
2. Sprinkle sugar over melted butter, then place pears, cut side down, on top. Bake until tender, about 30 minutes.
3. Remove pan from oven, turn pears over and baste with pan sauce. Return to oven; bake until golden and glossy, about 10 minutes longer.
4. Let cool slightly. Transfer pears to dessert plates or bowls. Top each with dollop of sour cream, drizzle with caramel pan sauce, sprinkle with nuts and serve.

I made sure to use ripe pears. The recipe didn't say whether or not to peal the pear skins off. So I left the skin on and I think it helped keep the pear together. Also, because the pears were ripe and soft, I baked them for only 20 minutes the first time and 8 minutes the second time.

Now for the alterations I made to the recipe. I sprinkled cinnamon over the brown sugar (which was light brown sugar because the dark brown sugar was as solid as a brick). Then I sprinkled some raisins before placing the pear halves on top of the sugar. Once the pears were cooked and cooled I used a dollop of cool whip instead of sour cream because I already had a container of cool whip opened. The caramel sauce I used was an ice cream topping. I didn't need to make up my own. Finally, for my nut of choice, I used pecans. I would still like to try this with the sour cream and pistachios, but that will have to be for another time when I have the ingredients on hand.