I love watching baking shows exceptionally during the holidays. One of the challenges was to pick a number that correlated with one of the verses from the song The Twelve Days of Christmas. A participant picked A Partridge in a Pear Tree and hummed the tune off and on during the whole challenge.
I could not get that song out of my head, so I finally gave up and thought about what kind of cookie can I make with pears.
There are challenges with making cookies with fresh pears. First, depending on the pear you choose, it will hold so much water that your cookies turn into a soggy mess within a day. So I started researching pears that were not fresh or canned.
How to Infuse Dried Pears
To my surprise, they make and sell dried pears; who knew! So I found some locally here in Lancaster at a Wegmans store. Dried pears are more challenging around the rim but semi-soft in the flesh. So I decided to infuse the dried pears to soften them up just a bit.
A lovely 30-minute pear juice soak and they were just what I wanted. After taking the infused dried pears out of the juice, pat dry with a paper towel. Lay them out in a single layer on a dry paper towel and let them sit for 15 minutes.
I soaked 11 to 13 pears (about 4 to 5 oz), and when I cut them up into pieces, I got a packed oversized cup of diced pears. I love pears, so I used them all.
Ingredients You Will Need
- ½ cup Butter unsalted
- 8 ounces Cream cheese
- 1 cup Sugar white
- ½ cup Light brown sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Maple syrup
- ½ teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 2 Eggs room temperature
- 2-½ cups All-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
- ¼ teaspoon Kosher Salt
- ½ teaspoon Ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon Nutmeg
- 1 cup Chopped hazelnuts
- 1 cup Diced dried pears
How to Make Pear and Hazelnut Cookies
After infusing, patting dry, and leaving the dried pears to sit on the paper towel to drain, I cut them into bite-size pieces. Set them aside for now.
Weigh or measure the white and light brown sugars into a bowl and set the bowl aside.
Weigh or measure all the dry ingredients and run a whisk through to blend and set aside that bowl.
One of my favorite parts is putting this all together and finding out how it tastes. So let's begin... 🙂
Add the butter and cream cheese to your mixer and blend them. Next, add both sugars and mix on medium speed for a good 2 to 3 minutes until smooth looking. After that, add the vanilla extract and maple syrup.
Please take one of the eggs and crack it into a small bowl before adding it to the mixer. I try and do this every time because it never fails that I will get an eggshell in my cookie batter if I do not do this.
Next, scrape down the sides and across the bottom to ensure it is mixed before gradually adding the dry ingredients on a low mixer speed.
Finally, add the chopped pears and hazelnuts and mix just until incorporated. OK, this is where I taste the batter to make sure I like the taste, don't judge, lol. Cover and refrigerate for one hour,
I almost always use a cookie scooper. It does help with making consistent-looking and tasting cookies. I got twelve mounds to a baking sheet using a medium-size cookie scooper.
Bake at 350° for 12-14 minutes. I let them sit for about a minute before moving them to a cooling rack.
These cookies have pears and hazelnuts peaking out of the cookie; it is an invitation to eat one or two. Enjoy!
Storage
This recipe has cream cheese as an ingredient; this makes a creamy, moist cookie. I do not store these types of cookies in a sealed container. Instead, I put parchment paper or wax paper between the layers of a big oval plastic container and finish with one on top. They stay fresh for five to seven days.
Please Try My Other Cookies
Pear and Hazelnut Cookies
Barbara HallIngredients
- ½ cup Butter unsalted 1 stick room temperature
- 8 ounces Cream cheese softened
- 1 cup Sugar white 198 g
- ½ cup Light brown sugar 106 g
- 1 Tablespoon Maple syrup
- ½ teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 2 Eggs room temperature
- 2-½ cups All-purpose flour 300 g
- 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
- ¼ teaspoon Kosher Salt
- ½ teaspoon Ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon Nutmeg
- 1 cup Chopped hazelnuts
- 1 cup Diced dried pears infused
Instructions
- Infuse dried pears either with pear juice or water for half an hour. Take out of the liquid and pat them dry with a paper towel. Chop them into small pieces and set them aside.
- Weigh or measure the white and light brown sugars into a bowl and set it aside. Next, weigh or measure the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and run a whisk through to blend.
- Add the butter and cream cheese to your mixer bowl and cream them together. Next, add both sugars and blend on medium mixer speed for 2 to 3 minutes. Next, add the vanilla extract and the maple syrup. Then add one egg at a time. I crack the egg into a separate bowl before adding it to my cookie batter. It never fails that I will get an eggshell in my batter if I do not do this.
- Scrape down the sides, turn the mixer to a low speed and gradually add the dry flour mixture. Next, I scrape down the sides and across the bottom before adding the chopped pears and hazelnuts. It only takes a few seconds to mix the fruit and nuts into the batter.
- Cover the mixer bowl loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour.
- Preheat your oven to 350° line 2 cookie sheet pans with parchment paper. I love using a cookie scoop since it makes each cookie the same size. I used a medium-size scooper to get 12 mounds on a cookie sheet. Bake for 12-14 minutes. Leave them on the pan for a minute before moving them to a cooling rack.
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