Pear Cardamom Quick Bread

Do you ever find yourself with pears that are starting to go bad? Use them in this lightly sweet pear bread topped with cardamom crumble!

I have a terrible habit of buying fruit to have as an afternoon snack and then forgetting all about it and leaving it on the counter every morning. By the end of the week it’s brown and bruised and I’m lucky if I actually ate any of it at all.

A while back I was about to throw out a particularly sad looking bunch of pears, when I started to feel guilty about wasting so much food. For a second, I wished i had bought bananas so I could throw them into the freezer for smoothies or bread. Then I decided to see what would happen if I tried to make a quick bread with pears instead of bananas.

The result was spectacular!

The bread is tender and cake-like, with the subtly floral flavor of pears in every bite. It’s crowned with a crisp crumb topping scented with spicy cardamom, and it’s completely addictive.

I’ve made it three times now, and it’s so good that I don’t always want to wait for the pears to soften. The bread is still tasty if you use firm pears, but the texture is better is you let them get a little soft first.

Now, what should I do with that bag of grapefruit that I impulse bought last week?

Pear Cardamom Quick Bread

Yield: 24

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes

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Ingredients

• 3 very ripe Bartlett or D'Anjou pears
• 1 2/3 cups sugar
• 2/3 cup coconut oil (liquid)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 4 eggs
• 3 cups Gold Medal® all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt

For the crumb topping

• 1/4 cup Gold Medal® all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 2 tablespoons cold butter

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 350ºF. Line two 8-inch loaf pans with foil.
2. Shred the pears on the coarse side of a box grated, discarding the stem and core. Gently squeeze the shredded pears and pour off any excess juice.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the shredded pears, sugar, coconut oil, and vanilla. Beat in the eggs one at a time.
4. In a second bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the pear mixture; stir to combine. Pout the batter into the prepared loaf pans.
5. In a small bowl, combine the remaining 1/4 cup flour, brown sugar, and cardamom. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles wet sand. Sprinkle the crumb topping in an even layer over the top of the bread.
6. Bake for 40-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the bread comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool completely before slicing.

Nutrition Information

Amount Per ServingCalories 200 Total Fat 8g Fiber 1.3g Protein 2.8g