Pear Streusel Coffee Cake

There are a few things that mark the end of summer and one of them is pear picking. This is the path to the trees at my Granny’s house. I’ve walked it so many times I could probably pick it out of a line up. It’s like a well-worn rite of passage we enjoy at the end of each summer.

My Granny and aunts put up pears each season. We’ve had a lot of rain this year, which meant the pears were juicy and held a lot of water. It also meant we had a lot of syrup. I’m already on the hunt for a healthy waffle recipe so bring on the veggie bacon.

The trees were covered in fruit and since we’ve canned enough for family, friends and neighbors to enjoy I decided to make a pear streusel coffee cake with the extra pears. It always gives me the giggles to see pears all shiny and green at the grocery store. I think about how many times they’ve been washed and buffed so they look appealing to customers. These are literally just off the branch.

This pear streusel coffee cake is really easy to make. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare a 12-cup bunt cake pan with cooking spray like Bake Joy.

In a large bowl, sift together 3 cups of all purpose flour, 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of baking soda. Set aside.

Attach the electric mixer paddle and in the mixing bowl combine 2 cups of sugar, 2 eggs, ¾ cup vegetable oil, ½ cup sour cream and ½ cup pear puree. Mix well. Then add the dry ingredients ¼ cup at a time to the bowl. Mix on high speed until batter is a slight tan color.

Core, peel and chop pears into small pieces. You’ll need approximately 3 cups.

Add chopped pears to the batter.

Pour mixture into prepared pan.

The cake will take around 75-90 minutes to bake depending on your oven. About 30 minutes prior to taking the cake out of the oven, add the streusel topping. To make the streusel, you’ll need ½ cup of brown sugar, 2 tablespoons of all purpose flour, 2 teaspoons of cinnamon, 2 tablespoons of melted butter and ½ cup-3/4 cups of pecans. Mix together with a fork and then crumble on top of the coffee cake.

Bake until a cake tester inserter comes out clean. Remove from the oven and cool slightly on wire rack. Serve warm with cinnamon sprinkled vanilla ice cream or a glass of ice cold milk.

This pear streusel coffee cake is really moist and the chunks of pears are as sweet as candy.

It’s the perfect way to say an unofficial goodbye to summer and sweet hello to fall.

Have a safe and happy long weekend,

CoCo