Baked Pears in Sherry

People who want dessert + a surfeit of juicy, ripe organic pears x too much Food Network = this recipe. It turned out pretty tasty for something thrown together!

You need:
Four fresh pears, halved lengthwise, cored and peeled
2/3 cup sherry
1/3 cup water
1 tablespoon apricot preserves
Handful of dried cherries, raisins, cranberries, sultanas, or mix thereof
1 tsp dried thyme, or better, a sprig of fresh thyme per pear half
Fresh or ground nutmeg (please invest in a whole nutmeg!)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a baking dish place the pears cut side down and fill the between spaces with raisins. Mix the sherry and water--I just measure the sherry then add water to the one cup line--and add in the apricot preserves. Break the preserves up as much as possible but don't stress. Pour over the pears.

Sprinkle the pears with thyme--strip the leaves off the sprigs if using fresh. Grate or sprinkle a little nutmeg over all.

Bake for 30 minutes or until soft. Serve hot or chilled with the juice and raisins. Great with whipped cream, Cool Whip or ice cream. I think this would also be good with some walnuts, but I haven't tried it yet.