This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Frontier Snacks. All opinions are entirely my own. Ahhh….the holiday months. I’m truly enjoying all the savory foods. Winter is the time when I get to enjoy yummy casseroles and warm, decadent desserts. But I’ve been craving a healthy sweet treat lately! One of my favorite sweet treats is Greek yogurt topped with granola, but I’ve wanted something new to eat with my granola.
Gluten Free Granola
Finding a clean and gluten free granola is harder than you think! But when I found Frontier Bites made by Frontier Snacks, I fell in love! Their granola bites are so flavorful and the ingredients are so clean! Frontier Bites come in 5 flavor varieties and I LOVE them all!!
Pumpkin Seed Apple Vanilla Bean Cashew Cranberry Orange Macadamia Pineapple Coconut Almond Blueberry Lemon Pecan Cherry Cinnamon
There are a lot of things I love about Frontier Bites, but the thing I love the most is each variety only has 8 ingredients! You heard it right…8 INGREDIENTS! I love the story behind Frontier Snacks and how the owners got started. They were challenged to come up with the best alternative to the over-processed energy bars that they regularly ate. The rules they were given for this challenge were simple…they had to come up with something that had less than 10 ingredients and that was gluten, soy and dairy free. There could be no refined sugars and they could only use ingredients they could find in their pantry. And sure enough, they won the challenge and continued forward with their healthy Frontier Bites. The ingredients in the Frontier Bites are SO super clean…we’re talking natural ingredients like:
pumpkin seeds apples cashews cranberries orange oil vanilla bean
You guys…I kid you not, this is the most flavorful granola I’ve ever had. You just can’t beat those flavor combinations!
Over the holidays, I remember a friend of mine talking about these wonderful baked pears she made for a more natural and healthy snack option. I love pears, but I’ve never made baked pears before, so I decided to make a batch and oh my goodness, I’ve been missing out! These Maple Vanilla Baked Pears are divine and they scream flavor, especially when I added the Cashew Cranberry Orange Frontier Bites as a topper!
This is the easiest snack recipe I’ve ever made and you only need 5 ingredients to make these Maple Vanilla Baked Pears!
Ingredients
Maple Syrup Ground Cinnamon Vanilla Extract Granola (Frontier Bites)
How To Make Maple Vanilla Baked Pears with Granola
Who’s ready for the SIMPLEST recipe ever?!? Let’s walk through these easy steps.
Step 1
Wash your pears really well and cut each pear in half. Then you’ll spoon out the seeds in the middle. The next thing you’ll do is generously sprinkle ground cinnamon on each pear. The cinnamon will provide that warm spice taste when you take your first bite!
Step 2
Next, you will whisk the maple syrup with the vanilla extract and gently drizzle the syrup mixture over the pears.
Step 3
Your pears are now ready to bake! You’ll bake them in the oven for 30 minutes. Your pears will be tender and slightly roasted when you pull them out of the oven. Right as you take them out of the oven, you’ll then drizzle the remaining maple syrup and vanilla over the pears.
Step 4
The next step is to take a handful of your favorite variety of Frontier Bites and crumble them in your hands. Lightly sprinkle the granola onto each pear until the granola is lightly covering each pear.
And that’s it! SIMPLE. EASY. HEALTHY. DELICIOUS! These Maple Vanilla Baked Pears with Granola really hit the spot and satisfied my sweet craving, but if want to add an extra kick of flavor, you can add vanilla ice cream on top of each pear! That will make for a fantastic dessert!
Or, if you want to keep it healthy, top each pear with a spoonful of Greek Yogurt and then sprinkle on the granola! You can’t go wrong either way!
Expert Tips
When making these Maple Vanilla Baked Pears, I use red Anjou pears. The Anjou pears tend to be more tender and are incredibly juicy. Another good trick is to cut a thin layer at the bottom of the pear so the pears will lay flat when you go to bake them on your cookie sheet or flexipan. I chose to use the Cashew Cranberry Orange Frontier Bites flavor on my pears and oh my goodness, it was amazing! You can really taste the cranberry and orange flavors in every bite and it paired really well with the smooth warm pear.
Other Sweet Treats
If you’re looking for more gluten free sweet treats, check these out:
Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge Gluten Free Apple Crumble Churro Cinnamon Pumpkin Cookies with Cream Cheese Hawaiian Banana Flip Dip Frozen Caramel Silk Pecan Pie
If you’ve tried these pears or any other recipe on the blog, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how it turned out in the comments below! I love hearing from you! Also - sign up for my newsletter and FOLLOW ME on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM and PINTEREST to see more delicious food I’m creating! Update Notes: This post was originally published in January 2017, but was re-published with updated step-by-step instructions, pictures and tips in December of 2018. NOTE: You will find affiliate links on this page.
