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Saturday, January 16, 2010

Pear Rosemary Bread

The Altitude Adjustment Section
Sometimes you read a recipe and you can just tell it is going to be something special. I bought this little cookbook a while ago called Pears by Linda West Eckhardt and this is where I found this little gem. It's sort of sweet and savory at the same time and best eaten the next day — if you can wait!

Ingredients
2 cups AP flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 ripe pears cored, peeled, and chopped (about 1 pound)
2 teaspoons fresh chopped rosemary
Grated zest of 1/2 lemon
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
6 tablespoons unsalted room temp butter
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
2 large eggs
1 fresh rosemary sprig

Procedure
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8 1/2 by 4 1/2 loaf pan with non-stick spray and lightly flour. In a large mixing bowl, sift together flour, soda, powder, salt and set aside. In the bowl of your food processor, puree the pear till smooth. Put mixture into a small bowl and add the lemon zest, lemon juice and chopped rosemary. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and the 1/3 cup of sugar till creamy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Don’t worry if the mixture separates. Alternately add flour and pear mixture to creamed butter mixture. Blend until smooth and don’t forget to scrape down sides of the bowl. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes. Dip sprig of rosemary in water and then in 1 tablespoon of sugar, shake off excess. Place on top of cake and put cake back into the oven for 40 minutes till cake is brown and springs back to the touch. Let cool 15 minutes and then unmold.