Pear bread and Pinterest

My hunt for pear recipes was inspired by this cuteness, which I found on Pinterest. He is now my lock screen on my phone – he just makes me smile.

My lock screen did not go unnoticed by The Boy. Despite thinking I was crazy, the boy left me my own little smiley pear. Said smiley pear is now sitting in a display cupboard, I can’t bring myself to eat him.

This recipe was made with his friends though, I’m not sure how to break it to him…

Not only does this recipe utilise a winning mix of flavours, it also gives you an excuse to eat chocolate for breakfast – anyone who says this doesn’t tempt them is lying!

I’m the first person to admit that I’m not a great fan of banana bread. It is deceptively sugary and bad for you, and whenever I order it I always feel let down (and slightly guilty about the sheer volume of calories I’ve just ingested.) This pear bread is different – I’m not sure whether it’s any better for you, but it’s lighter and not as sugar-laden. If you’re after something even healthier, substitute berries instead of the chocolate – then it’s virtually sin free!

This cakey bread was adapted from a recipe found at Smitten Kitchen

Pear bread with chocolate chunks

• 160g butter,
• 3 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 cups plain flour
• 1 cup self-raising flour
• 1/2 teaspoon bicarb
• ½ cup cup sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 ½ cups just-ripe pear (this was 3 pears for me)
• Handful of walnuts (optional)
• 150g chocolate (also optional, but strongly advised)

Preheat the oven to 180°C and lightly grease 22 cm doughnut-style cake tin.

Beat the butter until pale and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping the sides of the bowl down to stop the eggs from separating too much. Pop the vanilla into the mixture, followed by the flour and bicarb. Add in both the sugars – you don’t have to use two types of sugar, but I find that the mixture of white and brown allows the bread a layer of sweetness as well as a caramel edge. The mixture should be pretty thick, almost like peanut butter by this stage. Never fear, it gets better!

Peel and core pears (this next bit gets pretty juicy, literally, so I apologise in advance), then chop 2/3 of them really finely until they’re almost mush. With the remaining third (which was 1 pear for me) dice it into 1cm cubes – the mush will give your bread flavour and moistness, the cubes will give it great texture.

Roughly chop up the walnuts and chocolate and throw ¾ of them into the mixture. Add the mushy pear into the mixture and give it a good mixture, then add in the pear cubes and give it a final, gentle folding. Pour the mixture into your prepared tin.

Dot the top with the remaining walnuts and chocolate. Press them into the batter so they don’t burn or turn gritty while it bakes.

Bake in the oven for 50-55 minutes. You may need to rotate it half way through to ensure it browns evenly.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about ten minutes before serving. Add lashings of butter while the slices are still warm if you want to treat it like bread, otherwise eat it like cake with a cuppa and a smidgen of pouring cream!

It’s perfect on it’s own too – crumbly, thick and super moist.

Takes about an hour and ten minutes all up.