Cuisine: Carrot Pear Gingerbread

I bought some pears today that smelled amazing and were incredibly ripe. I was eager to have them tomorrow as a snack or part of my lunch. They were in the bag with other vegetables for dinner and ended up getting crushed. I, too, was crushed. So I ended up making up this tasty dessert instead.

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Ingredients
1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground clove

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup molasses, dark

3/4 c boiling water

1 stick butter, softened and sliced

3/4 cup brown sugar, dark

2 eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 carrots, shredded

2 pears, pealed, cored and sliced

1 tablespoon ginger, crushed

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Directions

Heat oven to 350.

In a bowl sift together flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.

In a separate bowl, whisk together molasses, water, and butter. Add sugar, eggs, and vanilla.

Add flour mixture to molasses mixture and combine. Slowly fold in carrots, pears, and ginger until fully mixed together.

Pour batter into a 9X9 buttered pan. Bake for 45-55 minutes.

Cuisine: Sweet Potato, Pear, and Ginger Biscuits

So...since I have been un(der)employed, I have been trying my hand at new things and slowing down. One of those things is baking. This weekend, I experimented with biscuits and surprised myself. These are fantastic! It may sound like an odd combination of ingredients, but the end result is a delicious, moist, and succulently sweet biscuit. In fact, we ate them all in two days. Not that we should have, but we did.

As many of you may know, my cooking always entails a lot of steps and takes a wee bit of time. I am also lousy at writing recipes down. Well! Here is a recipe that is fairly simple and written down exactly as my memory recalled. And as I age, my memory fails me more and more.

So...Let me know how these turn out for you. I'd love to hear the stories they inspire.

Xo,
Jason

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Ingredients

• 3 small sweet potatoes, peeld and cut into 2 inch sections
• 2 pears, peel, quartered, and cored
• 2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and diced
• 1/2 teaspoon ground clove
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup oats
• 2/3 cup milk
• 2 1/2 cups Bisquick, plus additional 1/3 cup
• 1/3 cup butter, soft
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, plus additional 1/2 cup
• Real maple syrup (optional)
  

Directions

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add ground ginger and let seep for 5 minutes. Then add cut sweet potatoes and boil for 10 minutes. Next, add pears and boil until sweet potatoes are soft, about 3-5 more minutes. Drain and mash the ginger, sweet potatoes, and pears with the clove and cinnamon. Set aside to cool.

In a small mixing bowl, combine oats and milk. Soak for 5 plus minutes.

In a large mixing bowl, combine 2 1/2 cups Bisquick, 1/3 cup butter, and 1/2 cup brown sugar. Mix together lightly. Add sweet potato mixture and oat mixture. Gently stir together ingredients. If mixture sticks to the side of the bowls, add additional Bisquick one tablespoon at a time. Stop when mixture is still slightly lumpy and pulls away from the edges of the bowl.

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

Grease a cast iron skillet or a heavy glass pan with butter (or spray with Pam). Using a 1/3 cup, scoop the biscuit mixture into a large ball and place on skillet or pan. Pan should hold 5 to 6 biscuits. Then sprinkle about 1 tablespoon brown sugar and drizzle a little maple syrup over each biscuit.

Bake for about 15 minutes. Check at 12 minutes. Biscuits are done when toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Enjoy with butter. Mmm...Tasty!