We have two pear trees in our backyard. And two apple trees. This makes for a lot of fruit that is either falling on the ground ready to be eaten immediately or fruit that hangs precariously at eye level, teasing us with it’s ridiculously long ripening times.

The pears are everywhere, I can’t keep up. The two trees are huge and sit side by side like Roman giants. There is a weird blight on all the pears, though they are still perfectly edible. It does make them more susceptible to damage from the wandering wasps and slugs. The apples are what we really want….the two trees combined will never fulfill our apple desires. We’re totally an apple kind of family.

I’ll eat anything with apples…in fact I have a few favourites I’ll be making this year with our bounty. There’s Apple Pie of course and my famous Apple Butter, but there’s also more amazing things like this delicious Caramel and Apple Cream Cheese Tart (yum!) or these Brown Butter Spiced Apple Cake Sandwich Cookies or this recently made Apple Cinnamon Bread Pudding. But apples also lend themselves incredibly well to savoury dishes, of which I also have many. There’s these soups: Roasted Parsnip and Apple and Roasted Butternut Squash (with apples) or maybe a salad? How about this Apple and Fennel Slaw? But by far my favourite is this apple themed dinner of Pan Fried Pork Chops with Apple Compote and Apple, Cheddar and Rosemary Biscuits. It was a winner and sticks out in my mind just for the biscuits alone…

But when comes to easy and apples, this bread takes the cake. Literally…This quick bread could also be made in a cake pan quite easily and frosted with cream cheese icing if you go for that kind of thing. Or maybe just a simple icing would do as well. Either way, the kids are digging having this loaf of bread around and with the amount of pears coming off those two tress out back, I know there will be more of these being made int he coming weeks.

I think it would work just as well with only pears and no apples, though I’m a keener on the apples…just cause.

Besides, apples and pears were made to be married together into treats such as these. I mean look at them. They’re made for each other…

One year ago: Pear and Blue Cheese Salad

Two years ago: Brown Butter Spiced Apple Cake Sandwich Cookies

Apple Spice Bread

Yield: 1 loaf
Prep Time: 20 minutes 
Cooking Time: 60 minutes

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup coconut milk (I use So Delicious as it’s low in calories and is ready made in a carton)
1/3 cup applesauce
1 tbsp grapeseed oil (or other neutral flavoured oil)
2 eggs
1/2 cup raisins
1 1/2 cups grated pear and apples, skin on (I used one of each)
1.5 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cardamom
1/2 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line an 8″ x 4″ loaf pan with parchment paper, allowing a couple of inches to hang over each side. Grease the parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the first five ingredients. Stir in the raisins and fruit. Set aside.
3. In a separate small bowl, whisk the dry ingredients together.
4. Pour the dry into the wet and stir gently until the dry ingredients are just incorporated.
5.  Pour into prepared loaf pan and bake for 55-60 minutes.
6. Remove from oven and cool on a cooling rack in the pan for five minutes. Grasp the paper “handles” pull up and lift the loaf out and allow to cool on rack for an hour before slicing.

Similarly delicious recipes from other fabulous food blogs:

Better Than Starbucks Hot Caramel Apple Cider from The Naptime Chef c/o Babble.com
Maple, Bacon and Pear Muffins from Carina Forum
Apple and Pear Slaw with Caramel Cider Vinaigrette from Food + Words
Apple Pear Crisp from My Baking Addiction
Apple Pear Multigrain Muffins from Gluten Free Goddess