Harry & David has partnered with the esteemed Chef Elizabeth Falkner in October to kick off our Seasonal Chef Program. Each month a top culinary expert will create seasonally inspired recipes featuring Harry & David's Fruit of the Month. We are excited to showcase Chef Falkner's unique interpretation of the Royal Riviera® Pears in October, and today we are sharing with you the first of three delectable recipes that you can create at home.
- For the crunch
- 1 ½ cup demerara sugar (or brown sugar)
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon (ground)
- 14 tablespoon nutmeg (ground)
- 12 tablespoon salt
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 2 tablespoons butter
- For the coffee cake
- 2 Harry & David® Royal Riviera® Pears (cored and sliced into 1/2 " slices with skin on)
- 4 ounces unsalted butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup sour cream
- 14 cup milk
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cup flour
- 1 ½ tablespoons baking powder
- 12 tablespoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon salt
- For the crunch
- Work all ingredients together with a spatula or your fingers and set aside.
- For the coffee cake
Preheat the oven to 325˚ F convection. Cream the butter and sugar together with a spatula or in a mixer with paddle attachment.
- Add the eggs and combine to emulsify.
- Add the sour cream, milk and vanilla extract and stir to combine.
- Add dry ingredients just to combine.
Sprinkle half of the crunch mixture divided between 2 loaf pans. Divide the Harry & David Royal Riviera® Pears slices lined down each loaf pan on top of the crunch layer.
Divide coffee cake batter over the pears in each pan.
Finally, divide the rest of the crunch over the batter in each pan.
- Bake for 30 minutes until cake is set.
- To serve
- Cool completely, this takes awhile, be patient. Then invert cake upside when cool, slice and serve.
Chef Elizabeth Falkner: Falkner is a seasoned veteran in the world of network culinary competitions and author of Cooking Off the Clock: Recipes From My Downtime, published just last month by Ten Speed Press. She will be opening a new Brooklyn pizzeria named Krescendo later this fall and will be appearing again fighting for redemption on Food Network’s The Next Iron Chef premiering November 2012.