recipe serendipity: pear-pecan quick bread

I love that kind of recipe serendipity that happens when you have a hankering for something but you're not quite sure what, then you start browsing around cooking blogs and stumble right onto a recipe for exactly what you want, and you have everything you need right in the house. That's what happened on Sunday when I was trying to decide what do with some nice pears and came upon this recipe for a pear pecan quick bread on the lovely blog The Kitchen Sink.



I love a quick bread not just because it's easy and, well, quick, but because it has this heartiness and warmth and aroma that really fills you up and wraps around you like a cozy blanket. It was quite perfect for the impending snow storm. J-Cat keeps referring to it as the zucchini bread without zucchini, which really makes no sense to me, but as long as that is a good thing in his mind I'm okay with it. And judging from the way he has been inhaling this bread, I'm pretty sure it's a good thing. Recipe after the jump:

SPICED PEAR-PECAN QUICK BREAD
From The Kitchen Sink

1 1/2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 cup pecans, toasted and chopped
1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1 egg white
1 cup sugar
1 cup peeled, grated very, very ripe pear (about 2 large)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla
1/2 cup peeled, diced pear

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a loaf pan; set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, soda, powder, cinnamon, cardamom. In a small bowl, toss the pecans in about a tablespoon of the flour mixture; set aside.

In another large bowl, whisk together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, sugar, grated pear and vanilla. Stir the flour mixture into the pear mixture until just combined. Fold in the pecans and diced pear.

Pour the batter into the greased pan and bake for about 1 hour, until a tester inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.