spiced pear walnut bread

 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  I hope you are all enjoying time with your family and eating a ridiculously big and delicious meal today.  This year my dad, step-mom, and step-sister are visiting me in Seattle and we are having Thanksgiving dinner (cooked by me!) in my tiny studio apartment.  It will be a mixture of classic favorites like green bean casserole and stuffing along with some fun new recipes like bacon wrapped turkey roulade and chocolate pecan pie.  Don't worry, I'll be reporting back on how they turned out.  


Since I'm sure you all already have your Thanksgiving meals planned (at least I hope you do), no Thanksgiving recipes here.  This one would be good for the day after Thanksgiving though.  A light Black Friday breakfast, perhaps?  I had never heard of pear bread until this week when I was searching for ways to use up some pears I bought at the farmers market.  It turned out great - a moist and spice-filled quick bread studded with walnuts and pear chunks.  It was a nice change from banana bread and was a great option to use up some seasonal produce.  

Spiced Pear and Walnut Bread


1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground ginger
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup oil (or 1/4 cup oil, 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce)
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 small pears, peeled, cored, and diced
1/2 cup chopped walnuts


Directions:


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Lightly grease a 9x4" loaf pan.


In medium bowl combine flours, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger.  In a small bowl, combine sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla.  Add to dry ingredients and stir with spatula until just combined.  Add diced pears and walnuts and stir to combine.  Try not to over stir.


Pour into prepared loaf pan.


Bake in preheated oven 45-55 minutes.  Bread will be done when golden brown on top and a knife comes out clean.