Gingerbread with Pears

by spiceaholic on October 23, 2011

Sticky, spicy-sweet gingerbread strewn with pieces of chopped pears.  This delicious, low-fat dessert combines several of my favorite fall flavors.

I love the juicy perfection of a just-ripe-enough pear — the sweet pear smell, the not too mushiness, the juice that dribbles out with every bite.  Now that fall is here, I see pears a lot more and that’s fine with me!  Fall also makes me want to bake, even though I don’t do a lot of it.  As I’ve been eating my pears this week, I decided I wanted to find a nice and easy dessert recipe that incorporated them.  At first I was looking for pear cake recipes, but then I found a recipe for gingerbread with pears in the  Moosewood Restaurant Book of Desserts that practically screamed “MAKE ME!!” because of its simplicity and combination of flavors.

So I made it.  And I’m so glad I did!  The only other time I’ve made gingerbread is from the Pillsbury boxed mix, but I was surprised to find how easy it is to make it from scratch.

Gingerbread with Pears, from the Moosewood Restaurant Book of Desserts

Ingredients

2 cups unbleached white flour

1 cup sugar

2 tsp. ground ginger

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

1.5 tsp. baking soda

** 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice  – my addition to the recipe

1/2 cup unsulphured molasses

2 egg whites, lightly beaten

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 tbsp. lemon juice

2 fresh pears, chopped into pieces

Preparation

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Spray a 9-inch square baking pan with cooking spray.

2.  In a large mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients.

3.  Combine the wet ingredients through lemon juice in a separate bowl.

4.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, stirring until just combined.  Now add the pear pieces.

5.   Pour mixture into baking pan and bake for approximately 35-45 minutes.

6.  Cut into 9 squares.  Tastes great hot, room temperature, and cold!

{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }

Sarah W. October 24, 2011 at 8:42 am

Thank you for posting. It just isn’t fall without some gingerbread!

spiceaholic October 24, 2011 at 8:49 pm

You’re welcome!

barb reeves October 27, 2013 at 6:37 pm

Thank you so much for posting this recipe. I lost my Moosewood Cookbook that had the gingerbread recipe that I loved. It isn’t this one exactly. It had black pepper in the recipe. I would make it in the fall as a pear upside-down gingerbread cake.

I think your recipe would work in the same way.

barbara

spiceaholic November 1, 2013 at 6:37 pm

Hi Barb!

It’s a great recipe — I like the idea of adding black pepper!

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