Christmas Gifts Bread

What to do with Christmas food gifts--a welcome dilemma I face every year.

Pecans are an annual gift, this year from Holdenville, Oklahoma--small, crisp, delicately sweet--those that aren't popped into my mouth go into pies and cookies.

My mother always orders my perennial favorite: Harry & David pears, with a texture so buttery a knife literally slides through a slice--impossibly juicy, ambrosially sweet--and those that aren't eaten out of hand (over the sink, with juice running down to my elbow) go into breads or cakes.


This year, an unusual gift of artisanal Maytag blue cheese--creamy, pungent, exquisitely marbled with blue veins--I savored a small bite as soon as I received it in the mail--sharp on the tongue but mellowing to moist, velvety, tangy goodness.


With a recipe for pear bread in hand, I properly paired the cheese, pears, and pecans to create a fragrant, moist bread; baking transformed the diced pears into little pockets of melted sweetness and the cheese from sharp-flavored to mild.

Blue Cheese Pecan Pear Bread

3 cups flour
1-1/2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 stick butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon peel
2 very ripe pears, peeled, cored, and finely diced (approximately 2 cups)
1/4 cup blue cheese, crumbled
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Prepare two 9 inch X 5 inch loaf pans, either with baking spray, oil, shortening, or parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350 F.

Combine flour, sugars, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, lightly whisk eggs;, add oil, butter, vanilla, and lemon peel. Add to flour/sugar mixture and stir just until dry ingredients are moistened. Fold in pears, cheese, and pecans. Evenly spoon batter into prepared pans, lightly smoothing out top. Bake 55-60 minutes or until cake tester inserted into middle of bread comes out clean. Let cool in pans for 10-15 minutes, then turn onto wire rack to cool.