Hi all!
In my humble opinion, pear season is far too short. As much as I love to eat them fresh, I do make myself preserve some so that I’m able to enjoy their delicious flavour all winter, and here are a couple of my favorite ways tuck them away for future eating!
Pear & Ginger muffins or bread (Perfect for the freezer!)
2 cups peeled & diced pears
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
2/3 cups oil
2 tsp vanilla
3 large eggs
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
Directions
Recipe makes 24 muffins or 2 loaves. (Or 1 of each)
Toss diced pears, sugar, ginger & cloves in a large bowl & set aside. Beat eggs, oil, vanilla together and blend in with pear mixture. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, salt, baking powder & soda, and gently combine with pears until fully incorporated. Pour into muffin tin or loaf pans (or 1 of each)
Bake at 325 for 35 minutes.
Pear butter
Peel & dice as many pears as you have (I like to do at least 10-12 which will do 1 small canning jar)
pinch of salt
**optional flavours- Pinch of cinnamon & nutmeg or ginger.
In a thick bottom pot on very low heat, let the pears (and spices if using) break down over the next hour. Use a potato masher to smash up the pieces and continue on very low heat until you have a smooth sauce. Continue cooking, while stirring frequently until it becomes a thick paste that has a slightly darker “caramelized” look. Your purpose is to remove all of the liquid from the pears.
Pack into jars & refrigerate, and now spread it liberally on toast or bread!
Alternate- this recipe (exactly as is) also works great with apples!
Enjoy those beautiful pears while they last….. and here’s hoping you’ll save some so they can last a little longer!
See ya next week!
k