This recipe is from Cynthe and Mac at www.figswithbri.com. The recipe and photo was found here.

Ingredients

4 whole firm pears, peeled but left with stems intact (best if you can find some local ones)
1 1/2 C. organic evaporated sugar cane juice (it’s unbleached granulated sugar that has a blond color and still has the natural minerals and enzymes from the sugar cane. great stuff if you haven’t tried it yet and tastes delicious.)
1 C. freshly squeezed orange juice (I had tangerines from the farmers market, so I used 4 of them)
zest and juice of 1 lemon
4 1/2 C. water (or you could use some pear or apple juice and some water)
1 1/2 C. white wine
1 fresh vanilla bean
1 cinnamon stick
1 pinch saffron
Creme fraiche to garnish

Preparation

With a knife, split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape all the tiny seeds into a heavy large saucepan. Add in the vanilla bean halves and everything but the pears and creme fraiche. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves and the mixture comes to a simmer.

Add the pears and bring the temperature back up. Reduce heat and simmer slowly until pears are tender when pierced, about 25 minutes. Carefully transfer pears to a plate. Throw out the cinnamon stick and now-flaccid vanilla bean halves and boil the liquid in the saucepan until reduced to a thin, but quite sweet syrup, about 30 minutes. (You can let it do it’s thing for about 20 minutes, and then come back and stir it for the last 10 or so.)

If you make this a day ahead, you can put the pears back into the liquid and let them cool and soak overnight. The golden saffron color will deepen in the pears with time. Either way, serve the pears warm, garnished with the creme fraiche and a drizzle of the syrup.