Pear Cookies

 Version#1: Animal Cookies

It's October which means that it's Orchard season!  This post is my 19th "Contributing Angel" post (Thank you  again to my friend Angel for allowing me to contribute to your amazing blog!)

Today we are going to focus on pears.  Apples are wonderful but I feel that pears always seem to take second place and personally I prefer the delicate pear flavor.

Here are some of my delicious pear recipes (please click on the title to view the entire post):

French Pear Pie

Pear Cashew Crisp

Pear Chocolate Chip Muffins

Garden Preserved Pear Cobbler

Ginger Coconut Pear Smoothie

Canning Pears - Use the Peelings

Canned Pears & Toast

Now onto my newest pear creation - PEAR COOKIES!  This recipe has 2 different versions - the first one is shared here on "Sew Crafty Angel" and at the end of this post is a link to the second version shared on "God's Growing Garden" (I split the dough in half and had plenty of both versions).

The cookie cutters that I used were found at IKEA.  The shapes are north woodland animals: bear, squirrel, snail, moose, fox and porcupine.  For this recipe I used the snail, squirrel and porcupine because they are all similar in size.

Printable Recipe

1/2 cup butter (softened)

1/2 cup pureed pear (peeled, cored & then pureed with 1 teaspoon lemon juice) (I used 3 small pears to get 1/2 cup pureed)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon cinnamon

a pinch of nutmeg

1/4 cup finely ground walnuts/pecans/ heartnuts (click HERE to view my post on heartnuts)
2 1/2 cups flour (depending on the juiciness of the pears - you might need more flour)
1/2 teaspoon salt (only if you are using unsalted butter)
1 egg

Prepare the pears & nuts as stated above.  With an electric mixer - cream the butter, sugars (brown & white), vanilla extract & pear puree until combined.  Quickly mix in the egg until combined.  Now, with a wooden spoon stir in the remaining ingredients until blended.  If the dough is still very sticky then you will need to add more flour - only add a tablespoon at a time to make sure that you do NOT add too much flour and make it too dry.  Your dough should look like the picture below on the right.

Wrap the dough in wax paper & chill in the fridge for 30 minutes or 1 hour.  If you are making both versions then you will divide the dough into 2 equal portions & place the second half back into the fridge.
Roll out the dough until it is 1/4 inch thick & cut out your desired shapes.  Place the cut out cookies on a parchment lined cookie sheet.  Continue rolling & cutting until the entire half of the dough is used up.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until desired golden brown color is achieved (see picture below)

Cool on a wire rack.
I enjoy these cookies plain but if you would like to frost them using the pear frosting recipe below then you will need to wait until the cookies have completely cooled.

Pear Frosting

1/4 cup pear pureed (peeled, cored & then pureed)

1/4 cup butter (softened)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/3 cups powdered sugar (again - depending on the juiciness of the pear and depending on your desired sweetness - you might need to add more sugar)

With an electric mixer cream together the butter, pear puree & vanilla extract until combined.  Add the sugar 1/3 cup at a time and mix until combined - then add the next third cup & so on.

Spread some frosting on every cookie (once the cookie has completely cooled).  (If you leave the cookies opened for a few hours the frosting will dry hard so that you can put them in a cookie jar). 

NOTE: This frosting recipe will be enough for the entire dough amount - if you divided the dough in half to do both versions then you will have extra frosting.

ENJOY!

click HERE for

Version #2: Fall Linzer Cookies with Chocolate Ganache Filling

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