Pear Banana Bread

Picholine's Note:

A nice change from regular banana bread--it's super moist and the pears really boost the flavor. I developed this by combining the best elements of banana and fruit bread recipes. As one of the reviewers discovered, this recipe doesn't work with hard pears--they have to be soft so they can be mashed in with the bananas to form a puree. Also, this can be cooked more quickly in a muffin tin (about 20 minutes).

• Total Time: 1 hrs 40 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs 30 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 1 loaf

• 2 bananas
• 2 pears , peeled, chopped
• 2 cups flour
• ½ cup white sugar
• ½ cup brown sugar
• ½ cup butter
• ¼ cup vanilla yogurt
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ginger
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Mash bananas and pears in a bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, mix the rest of the ingredients until creamed together.
4. Stir in the fruit mixture.
5. Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan.
6. Bake for an hour and half.
7. Let cool for at least 10 minutes so it doesn't fall apart (it solidifies more with time).

Reviews

[El Bee]

I made muffins (24--baked at 350 for 18 minutes, started checking at 15), which just came out of the oven & cooled to eating temp. They are very tasty and moist--and a very forgiving recipe. I had 4 small pears (with bad spots to cut out) and 1 banana, and only plain yogurt. I used a mix of white and wheat flour & fresh nutmeg. Thanks for sharing!

[LauraLoo1]

very Moist and delicious. Added chopped walnuts.

[creature_of_leisure]

This is a lovely light cake. Reviews said it was really moist I was worried about it being heavy but it wasn't and not too moist either - just right. I doubled the recipe and used four bananas, only 2 ripe pears and I also only added 3/4 c of both sugars. Doubling made a large loaf plus 12 large cupcakes. This recipe is a real 'keeper'.