The only real problem I have with pears is that they bruise easily. They are juicy, have great flavor and go well with a huge variety of sweet and savory dishes. The bruising is a problem, though, because it really has an impact on the appearance of sliced pears and - at the risk of sounding a bit silly - a cheese plate just doesn’t look the same with a bunch of bruised pears on it. Fortunately, there is at least one great use for slightly bruised, but still ripe, pears: pear butter.

Pear butter is basically a very thick, smooth applesauce-type dish that is made with pears. It gets the name “butter” from how silky smooth the finished puree is. I was inspired to make a batch after smelling the wonderful scents of Apple Cider Butter being cooked at the Smuckers factory last week, as well as by the fact that I had a bunch of bruised Bosc pears sitting on my kitchen counter when I returned from the trip. You can use any variety of pears for this.

The butter is easy to make: just cook the pears down with a little spiced cider and puree it. I always put pear butter through a strainer at least once to make sure it is as smooth as possible. I don’t add any extra sugar, but if you prefer yours a little sweeter, feel free to add in 1/4 cup or so of brown sugar. You can taste the spices from the cider - cinnamon, cloves, etc. - in the finished butter, but I add in a little bit extra to keep the flavors strong. This will keep well in the fridge for about a week (maybe two, if stored in an airtight container) and can be used as a spread for English muffins, biscuits, toast, pancakes and even savory things like pork chops (very tasty!).
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When you go out to breakfast, most restaurants will give you an option of having fresh fruit and whipped cream on top of your pancakes or waffles. This is easy to do at home, of course, but it means that you need to plan ahead and make sure that you have some waffle-friendly fruit on hand before you get up in the morning. Sliced watermelon (what I have in the fridge right now) just doesn’t really cut it. Fortunately, I always have some frozen fruit around and making a mixed berry syrup is very easy and just as delicious.

I used some frozen blueberries and strawberry jam to make this syrup. Just combine some frozen berries, jam and a bit of sugar in a large, microwave-safe bowl and cook for about 1-2 minutes on high. The berries and jam will melt together into a lovely, thick syrup that still has big berries in it. Plus, there are no pans to wash up, so it’s a very low-maintenance trick to pull on a Sunday morning while still making breakfast a bit more special than usual.

Raspberry jam, or any other flavor of jam you like, will work just as well. Other frozen berries, such as blackberries or raspberries, will also work in place of the blueberries. Blueberries are my frozen fruit staple, so I always have them on hand.

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Bread pudding is a great dessert because it is fairly easy to make and is a great way to use up a half loaf of leftover bread that is just a touch past its prime. That said, it’s also delicious enough that I’ve been known to run out to the store to buy a fresh loaf just to make some.

Most bread puddings have a custardy base made of milk and/or cream and eggs, similar to the mixture that french toast is soaked in before cooking it. For this bread pudding, I wanted to try something a little different and added some cream cheese into the basic custard mixture, adding a little bit of that tangy cream cheese flavor to the dish. I was inspired to give this a try when, during a dinner out, one of my dining companions just couldn’t decide between a mini cheesecake and homemade bread pudding We ended up getting both for the table and splitting them, and it was apparent that the textures and flavors would be very complementary, as both are often creamy and mild desserts on their own.

The finished bread pudding tasted like a very mild cheesecake, with just a hint of cream cheese flavor mixed in with a strong vanilla flavor, and had a slightly firmer texture than some of the softer bread puddings I’ve tried. The cream cheese blended in very well into the rest of the milk-egg mixture and had no problems being absorbed by the bread cubes that make up the base of this dessert. I would opt for white bread, or a bread like challah or brioche for this pudding, as a whole grain bread will add enough of its own flavor that the dessert will loose some of its cheesecake essence (although it will still be rich and tasty).

Since this is a fairly plain bread pudding, I would serve it with a few spoonfuls of cream anglaise or other custard sauce, or pair it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. If you opt for the ice cream route, serve the bread pudding warm. Otherwise, it is good both warmed and at room temperature.
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I suspect that one of the reasons that pancakes are usually kept fairly simple - plain or buttermilk seem to make up the vast majority of pancake recipes - is that pancakes are such a great way of serving maple syrup. It’s easy to save the bulk of the flavor for the syrup. But it is also easy to infuse a little more flavor into basic pancakes and doing so only improves breakfast, making the pancakes a little more interesting.

These pancakes get a little flavor boost from the addition of brown sugar. I used a bit more sugar than I typically would in a pancake recipe to bring it out, so the resulting pancakes are sweet and fluffy, as well as very soft and tender. They really are on the cake-like side of the pancake spectrum, and are all the more delicious for it. Still, the brown sugar flavor is relatively subtle on its own, if you want to take the time to make a batch of regular pancakes (as I did!), it is easy to see how much the flavor really stands out when you compare these to a plainer version.

To enhance the flavor even more, I made up a special syrup to serve these pancakes with. The syrup is a mixture of brown sugar, butter and real maple syrup. It tastes vaguely like pralines, and does a wonderful job of bringing out the brown sugar flavor - as well as the flavor from the butter - in the pancakes. It is best served warm, as the sugar may crystallize if the syrup sits too long at room temperature.

Both the syrup and the pancake recipe can be halved quite easily if you don’t want to make a big batch.
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Passion fruit, also sometimes written as passionfruit, is one of the best smelling fruits out there. Ripe fruit has a stong, sweet, floral scent that just makes you feel as though you’re somewhere tropical. More often than not, the passion fruits sold in US markets are a bit on the dry side, so I’m always thrilled when I can get my hands on some fresh, plump fruits. The two that inspired this batch of curd came from a friend who grows them.

The curd is made the same way as a lemon curd or a lime curd, using the juice of the passion fruit and combining it with sugar and eggs. Passion fruits usually have a fair amount of tart juice to give off when you cut into them, and you can extract some more by pressing the seeds and pulp through a strainer. I like to reserve the seeds and stir some in at the end of the curd-making process, and I do it for the same reasons that most passion fruit recipes do. It’s partially because the seeds are a dead-giveaway for the passion fruit flavor, but also because the black seeds at a nice contrasting color and texture to the mix.

If the scones in the picture look familiar, it’s because I served this curd with the coconut scones I posted the recipe for earlier this week. The combination of the coconut and passion fruit made for a very tropical treat. The passion fruit will go with many other dishes, from pancakes and waffles, to scones and muffins of almost any flavor. You can use it in place of lemon curd in tarts, cupcakes and cookies, as well.

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A curd is a thick, sweet-tart type of sauce that is typically made with citrus juice, eggs and butter. It is known for being rich in flavor, with a very silky texture. I call it a sauce for lack of a better category, as curds are much thicker than most sauces (rather pudding-like).

This version of a curd almost doesn’t fit the description above at all. It uses no eggs, no butter and only a minimal amount of citrus. My curd is strawberry-based and is a great way to use up a lot of end-of-season fruits in an interesting way. It has the thick, smooth texture of a regular curd and it’s vegan. I was inspired after seeing the vegan mango curd at Buttermilk and Pinecones. Curds that are based with a fruit other than citrus are uncommon (and I love mango), but since I’ve made curd-like puddings that happen to be vegan before myself, it didn’t surprise me too much that the idea would work so beautifully.

This recipe is quite easy and requires very few ingredients. It starts with fresh strawberries which are pureed with sugar, then added to a lime juice (lemon can be used) and cornstarch mixture. The cornstarch is the thickening element of this curd, while eggs are the thickening element of a traditional curd. This isn’t really all that surprising a substitution, since cornstarch is frequently used as an egg replacer (or partial egg replacer) in other vegan recipes. It actually works out especially well, since there is no additional flavor (the egg) to detract from the strawberries. The taste of fresh berries is definitely the star here and the lime juice just adds a nice accent to brighten it up.

The texture is perhaps a tiny bit less smooth than that of a curd which uses juice, as opposed to a fruit puree. I strained my curd twice -once going into the saucepan and once coming out - to try and get as smooth a texture as possible. I know someone will ask if this can be made with frozen strawberries, but I must admit that I think it will turn out best with fresh berries. They’ll have a more vibrant color and probably a better flavor. If you try to use frozen berries, be sure to defrost them completely before working with them.

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