This fragrantly spiced, nutty Walnut-Ginger Pear Bread is nutrient-dense and mildly sweet from the honey and the pears. Easy to mix up in the food processor, and gluten-free. Serve at your next brunch!
Best eaten the day it's baked or the day after, this bread is a wonderful party treat. It's easy to put together using pantry ingredients except for the pears. If you were out of pears, apple slices would be delicious too.
It's best using firm (not yet fully ripe) pears. So I can make this recipe even in April when pears aren't yet in season but they're for sale locally anyway.
Using the food processor (one of my favorite kitchen gadgets) means that you can grind your own walnuts. Because you are going to chop them fine, you can save on the walnuts and buy broken ones rather than spend extra to get halves. But if you happen to have walnut halves but not fruit, you could use the walnuts as a decoration too.
The first step in making this bread is to grind up the walnuts in the food processor. Walnuts are surprisingly soft, so it only takes a minute (two at the most) to convert them into walnut meal. Don't process too much farther or you'll end up with walnut butter!
Then you will remove the walnuts from the food processor and set them aside while you mix the remaining ingredients. The food processor makes easy work of creaming the butter (or ghee) and the honey together and then the eggs.
Once all the wet ingredients have been blended, you'll stir in the dry ingredients. Don't overmix here - just as with muffins, a sweet, nutty bread like this is better when the ingredients are just mixed. Remove the batter to a mixing bowl and stir in the walnut meal.
Now you are ready to bake!
Be prepared that the bread doesn't rise very much, but it still works to use a toothpick to test for doneness. The toothpick should come out clean, and the batter you can see next to the edges of the pear slices should have lost its shininess.
Also, note that I have reduced the sweetness of this bread considerably from the recipe that inspired me. The original contained three times as much sweetener in the form of coconut sugar. I've also changed the spices to ginger and nutmeg rather than cardamom, based on family feedback. Ginger and pears are perfect in our household!
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I hope you will enjoy this lovely bread as much as we do!
If you make this recipe, please share on Pinterest, Instagram or Facebook, and leave me a comment so that I know how it went!
Beth
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Walnut-Ginger Pear Bread
Ingredients
- ½ cup 8 Tbs pastured butter or ghee, at room temperature
- ¼ cup honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 eggs at room temperature
- 1 cup walnuts ground in food processor
- ½ cup brown rice flour
- ½ cup almond flour
- 1 tablespoon ground flax seed
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon ginger
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 3 pear slices lengthwise
Instructions
- Grind the walnuts in the food processor to form a fairly even meal, 1-2 minutes. Remove walnuts to a small bowl.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Grease a 5 x 7, 4 x 8 or 3 x 10 inch (which I happened to have) loaf pan and line it with parchment paper so the bread can easily be removed from the pan after baking.
- Beat the soft butter or ghee, the honey and vanilla together for 3-4 minutes in the food processor.
- Add one egg at a time and beat (process) into the ghee mixture.
- Mix the rice flour, almond flour, flax meal, baking powder, salt, ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg in a separate bowl, then add to the batter and process just until mixed. Remove the batter to a bowl.
- Stir the ground walnuts into the batter.
- Evenly pour the batter into the greased, lined loaf pan, and smooth it until level.
- Rinse the pears and pat dry. Make 3 lengthwise slices to top the bread. You can slice them all from one pear, or for a fancier look (and if you have another use for the remaining pears) cut a center slice from each of three pears. Place each pear slice on the top of the bread batter, lining them up as you like, and press them gently down into the batter. Optional: sprinkle the pears with some large-crystal sugar, like Demerara.
- Bake for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the loaf comes out clean. If the top of the bread is getting too brown before it is finished baking, cover it with foil and place it back into the oven until baked through.
- Let the bread cool at least 10 minutes before removing it from the loaf pan. Slice and serve warm with butter!
Notes
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angiesrecipes
This looks not only delicious, also very healthy that I can even enjoy it as a breakfast. I love it's naturally gluten free too.
Beth
Yes, we think that it's perfect for breakfast because it's filling but not too sweet. Thank you!
Rochelle
I love this flavor combination. Such a new twist on your typical sweet bread 🙂
Beth
Thanks, Rochelle. Ginger is so perfect with the pears and walnuts, and in my mind the low sweetness makes for a perfect loaf.
Felicia Austin
I am not a huge walnut fan but I love pears and you have made me want to try this just by looking at your fabulous pictures!
Beth
Thank you so much, Felicia. I am a fan of walnuts but if I weren't I'd make this with pecans (in case you like those). I so appreciate your comment about the pictures!
Saif
I never tried pear bread but this looks really delicious. This is perfect to eat with some hot tea. Definitely going to try making one.
Beth
Saif, you are so right - tea is what I drink when I eat this bread. Let me know how it turns out when you try the recipe!
Nart at Cooking with Nart
Another gorgeous, gorgeous recipe from you Beth!!! Your photos make me want this bread so much but I'll have to wait until I can get pears here!
Beth
Thank you, dear Nart. I love your photos so much that I really appreciate it when you praise mine. And I hope to hear what you think when you make this!
Elizabeth Newman
This flavor combo is pretty amazing. Would be great anytime of the year, but screams of fall.
Beth
Liz, you are so right - I can hardly wait to try it with fall pears!
Jacqueline Debono
This walnut ginger pear bread looks super! I want to try it with pears from my garden when they are ready to pick. We have a pear tree that produces small pears which I think would be perfect!
Beth
Jacqui, what a wonderful treat to be able to pick your own pears! And I agree, small pears would let you use a pan of almost any size, I hope the recipe turns out great for you.
Alpa
This looks so creative. I love cinnamon flavored cakes, I am making this soon
Beth
Thank you, Alpa! It's really delicious and I hope you have fun making it.
Lathiya
The bread looks so gorgeous. I love the way you placed the pear on top of it.
Beth
Thanks, Lathi. I tried a couple of other ways that didn't work as well (too fancy) but tasted fine, so was really happy when this simple idea worked out so well.
Christy Boston's Kitchen
This is making me hungry! I love how you placed the pears on top. It adds such visual appeal, and I can imagine that the flavors are more pronounced with each bite as a result. Since I love pears, this is a must-try recipe!
Beth
Thank, Christy. My family really liked this, even with one batch where I tried quartered pears and they sank into the batter. We love the look and taste of this, and how placing the pears on top reduces any sogginess as time goes on. I hope you love it if you have a chance to try it!