Pear & Yellow Summer Squash Spice Bread

In a recent co-op delivery, we received yellow summer squash, along with pears and apples. That set me to thinking about my recent experiment: Apple Zucchini (Courgette) Spice Bread. After some debate, I decided that I wanted to try a twist on the previous quick bread, and settled on yellow squash with D'anjou pears. Even though the spices are the same chai blend that I developed for the previous loaf, the result changes quite a bit just by switching out the squash and fruit.

I wish they served yellow summer squash like this when I was a kid.

• ½ cup butter
• 1 cup + 2 Tbsp organic cane sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups flour (1½ cup all-purpose+½ cup whole wheat)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp cardamom
• ¼ tsp coriander seed powder
• 1/8 tsp ginger
• 1/8 tsp cloves
• 1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp white pepper (if you don't have white pepper, you can use black pepper, but the white doesn't show in the cake)
• 1 yellow summer squash (grated finely, including the skin and any liquid)
• 2 pears (peeled, cored, and diced)


Preheat oven to 350°F (app. 175°C*)-if using stoneware, check the recommendations of your manufacturer regarding oven temperature.
Prepare a loaf pan (I buttered the pan and lined it with parchment, especially in case any of the fruit touched the bottom or sides).
Cream butter & sugar, add eggs one at a time.
Whisk dry ingredients (flour, baking powder/soda, salt & spices).
Alternate adding dry ingredients and grated squash, and mix only until all ingredients are evenly incorporated.
Fold in diced pears and spoon the batter into the prepared pan.
Baked for 60-80 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the loaf comes out clean.










http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D'Anjou
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_summer_squash 


*I use an online conversion chart and round up or down, as seems appropriate. Please adjust according to your judgement, and send me a message if you find an error. Thank you.