Going to a football party used to mean stopping by 7-Eleven to grab a bag of potato chips and a jar of queso. Now, I wake up early (though not early enough, it turns out) to make from-scratch-pear-bread. Damn, I’m getting old.


For about the last month, we’ve received these amazing pears in our Greenling Local Box. They’re ‘Orient’ Pears from Lightsey Farms down in Mexia and they’re hard. When I first got them, I kept waiting for them to ripen and turn soft. I’d still be waiting. These pears are not the type you can pull from the tree and just bite into. I mean, I guess you could–you might hurt a tooth though. What they are great for is baking or poaching. And, they last forever!

You may have noticed from the types of recipes I post, we aren’t huge dessert eaters. I try to stay away from breads since I have a slight gluten/wheat allergy. And, we’re just not huge sweet eaters in general. So, it’s rare that I make dessert. It’s usually if we have guests or are going over to someone else’s house.



As a result, these pears have been piling up in my fridge. I’ve found recipes to try and have even bought ingredients. But, I just haven’t gotten around to making any of them. I wasn’t looking forward to having a dessert sitting around staring me in the face. It’d probably go bad in the end.


When some friends invited us to their house to watch the UT/OU and told us they’d be making brunch, I knew it was the perfect opportunity to try the pear bread recipe I’d been eyeing.


I fully intended to wake up at the butt crack of dawn to get the bread in the oven. Instead, I woke up at 10. The game was at 11. Fail.

Being the good wife that I am, I told A to head on to the game without me. I’d catch up later. I figured I’d only be 30 minutes or so behind him. This was before I read the recipe.


Now, I must preface this by telling you I almost always read recipes before starting to cook. For this recipe, I was a very, very bad student–I only read the ingredients and the steps until pouring the batter in the pan before beginning. I failed to notice how long the bread would take.


I should have known better because pretty much every loaf bread I’ve ever made has taken about an hour to bake. But, I wasn’t thinking. About baking at least. I was just thinking about the game and how great an addition my pear bread would be. Again, fail.


About an hour after the game had started, I was still at home. The buzzer on the oven sounded and–thank goodness–the bread was actually done in the time suggested. About an hour and half after I should have been ready, I finally made it to the party. Luckily, they were watching on a delay and I didn’t miss all that much.

Pear Bread

From Southern Cakes
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 cup chopped walnuts
3/4 cup butter, softened
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups peeled and finely grated ripe, firm pears
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan or two 9″x 5″loaf pans.
Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Scoop out about 1/4 cup of this mixture and combine it with nuts to coat. Stir back into the flour mixture.
In a separate bowl, combine butter, eggs, sugar, pears, and vanilla. Add the pear mixture to the flour mixture, stirring just until flour disappears and batter is evenly moistened.
Pour batter into prepared pan(s). Bake for 60-70 minutes, or until bread is browned and firm on top. A pick inserted into the center should come out clean.
Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Then, remove from pan and place top side up on a plate or wire rack to cool completely.

Time: (read this!!) at least 90 minutes, longer if you grate the pears by hand
Serves: Makes 2 9″x5″ loaf pans (about 20 thick slices)


Though I probably should have just stopped by the corner store and picked up the staple from my younger years, it was worth the wait in the long run. This bread is absolutely fantastic! It’s so good, I’m thinking of making a few loaves with the rest of the pears in my fridge and just freezing them to have for when company comes.