Pear Coffee Cake (Cakepie)

One of our friends sent us a beautiful box of pears from Harry & David. We look forward to these delicious pears and this year, I wanted to make something special. We're in NJ and awaiting a snowstorm and I kept looking at the pears sitting on the table. What better way to welcome the white fluffy snow than with a hot cup of coffee and a slice of coffee cake.

This recipe is a combination of a cinnamon coffee cake and a pear & apple pie. So I guess you would call it a pear cakepie? What ever you call it, it's so good!

Let's get baking you'll need: Bake: 350 degrees 45-55 mins

1 stick softened butter

2 cups of flour (sifted)

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/4 cup dark brown sugar

2 eggs

1 cup Greek Yogurt (no that doesn't' make this a healthy recipe)

2 cups chopped pears (apples would work or chunked fresh pineapple)

Cream sugar and butter until smooth. Add the vanilla and Greek Yogurt. Beat eggs and add them to the wet mixture. Sift all dry ingredients together before adding to the wet mixture. This will ensure that all the spices are distributed evenly. You don't have to get fancy with a sifter, I use a fine wire strainer. Slowly add the dry to the wet ingredients. When combined, add the pears - DO NOT BREAK THEM STIR GENTLY. Spread batter into a shallow rectangular pan.

CRUMBLE TOPPING - you'll need

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup flour

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice

4 tbsp softened butter

Use your fingers to squish (yes that's the culinary term for it) the butter into the dry ingredients. Leave it in large clumps (another word) and place on top of the batter that you put into the pan. I used a disposable baking pan to make clean-up easier. It's all about the snow day today, relaxing, and binge-watching movies.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream with a drizzle of dark rum over the top. (yes, that's adult chocolate syrup!)

Enjoy!