It’s that time of year again, when chocolate invades all aspects of life. There are advent calendars, Hanukkah gelt, chocolatey cookies and boxes of chocolates bestowed as gifts. It’s the season to indulge in overindulgence before January’s resolutions and renewed gym memberships. So let’s get our chocolate on before the season of atonement hits, shall we?

I recently turned to French jam queen Christine Ferber’s book Mes Confitures and tried my hand at her chocolate and pear jam, or as Ferber calls it, her poires belle-Hélène jam.

Poires belle-Hélène is a classic French dessert wherein poached pears are drenched in chocolate sauce. This is the jam version of that dessert, made by cooking pears with grated chocolate. A decadent treat that pairs excellently with croissants, toasted and buttered baguette or ice cream.

My grated chocolate looked like tobacco (mmmm, tobacco jam):

One can’t really process chocolate in a boiling water bath, so I recommend you keep this in the fridge and consume it within about a month (and advise the person you’re gifting it to to do the same).

Chocolate & pear (poires belle-Hélène) jam

8 cups cored, thinly sliced pears (whichever kind you like, Ferber suggests William, I used Beauté Flamandes grown in Quebec)

3 cups of sugar

1 orange, juiced

1 lemon, juiced

2 cups grated 70 % chocolate

Bring sliced pears, sugar, lemon and orange juice to a simmer, then remove from heat and add the chocolate, stirring until it melts into the fruit mixture. Allow to cool, cover and place in the fridge overnight. The next day, bring to a boil, skimming off any foam, boiling and stirring for five minutes. Pour into hot, sterilized jars (boil them for 15 minutes before pouring the jam in).