Frosty Pear Drink

One of my favorite possessions isn’t really mine. It’s a pear tree that was born from an offshoot of my Gran’s pear tree. I grew up eating these hard pears. She was such a wonderful Gran. She would peel these pears and feed them to me as I sat on a stool at her feet.

This year the pear tree didn’t bloom at all. There are no pears. My father says the tree is just old. My heart is broken. At least I can still get the taste with smoothies like this one.

Frosty Pear Drink

2 pear halves, coarsely chopped
1 ½ cups milk
1 cup lemon or pineapple sherbet
4 ice cubes, cracked

Place pears, milk, sherbet and ice in blender. Process until smooth.

Makes about 1 quart.

Roasted Pear

This recipe is in the current issue of People magazine. It would be easy to miss it if you’re not looking for a homemade baby food recipe. I’m not, in case you’re wondering. But I love pears and I love cinnamon. This just seems so easy and like it would be a wonderful treat for any age.

The recipe comes from “celebrity chef and food network regular Donatella Arpaia” according to the magazine. Enjoy!

Roasted Pear

1 Bartlett pear, peeled
Cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Remove thin slice from bottom of pear; sprinkle with cinnamon.

Please pear in lightly greased 8-inch square baking pan. Bake 35 minutes or until tender when pierced with wooden pick. (I use wooden toothpicks.) Cool to room temperature. Scoop fruit straight from pear to serve.

Pear Bread

A funny thing happens when you're faced with a large pear tree and lots of really small pears. Yeah. You guessed it. You start baking things you've never ever tasted before. That's okay. I'm thrilled to have the pears. I love to eat them. More importantly, this particular tree got its start from my Gran's pear tree. The tree means a lot to me because it reminds me of the wonderful times spent at her house. Oh, and the bread's pretty good too!

Pear Bread

3 eggs

1 ½ cups sugar

¾ cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

4 cups peeled, cored, finely chopped pears

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Combine eggs, sugar, oil and vanilla. Mix well. Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Stir into the egg mixture just until moistened. Don't overblend because that will make it dry.
Toss pears with lemon juice. Stir pears and pecans into batter. The batter will be really thick.
Spoon the batter into two greased bread loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.

Pear Cake

There are many thoughts that cross a person's mind when she is staring at three buckets of pears. Desperation. Determination. And a frantic search for pear recipes.

Most folks immediately think of canning pears, especially the hard pears like we have. But why can something we're not going to eat? I could always make a cobbler. And I will before the pears are gone. But I really wanted to make a cake. I'd made a cake with apples. Why couldn't I make one with pears?

I didn't know how it would end up. But the entire kitchen smelled wonderful as it baked in the oven. I served it warm. Wonderful! Moist and delicious. Seconds, please!

Pear Cake

4 cups peeled, cored, chopped pears

2 cups white sugar

3 cups sifted all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

4 egg whites

2/3 cup Crisco oil

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Combine pears and sugar. Let stand one hour.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Coat 10-inch tube pan with PAM.

Slightly beat egg whites. Add oil, chopped pecans and pear mixture.

Combine flour, salt, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves. Add to the pear mixture. Pour batter into the tube pan.

Bake for one hour and 10 minutes. Remove from oven. Let cool on wire rack for 10 minutes before removing from pan.