December is the perfect time to celebrate pears! Our friends Annette from Azure Farm and Luisa from Peaches to Pearls –popular food and lifestyle blogs – are helping us honor some of our favorite pear varieties through a delicious and festive partnership this month. With sweet and savory recipes and even a beautiful pear-themed tablescape, these ladies celebrate the season in the best way!
Green Anjou pears are just one of the delicious varieties used in this National Pear Month partnership!
Adding pears to holiday baking and cooking is the best way to elevate your guests' experience and add seasonal flair. To start the party right, Luisa created a whipped feta and pear dip that is surprisingly simple to make! This spread includes feta, cream cheese, and a touch of garlic mixed and topped with bits of both red and green Anjou pears (the perfect festive combo!), along with honey and chopped pecans. This flavor combo is delicious and will have your guests dipping repeatedly!
Feta and Honey Pear Dip
Once the appetizer portion of the evening is over, enjoy dinner surrounded by gorgeous red and green pear décor. Annette from Azure Farm uses Anjou pears to add festive color to a place setting. She also utilizes dried pear slices for an extra element of rustic charm and natural scent. Here’s how to get the look!
Annette decorates her table with red and green Anjou pears along with dehydrated pear sliced turned name cards!
DIY Dried Pear Place Cards
You’ll need:
- A few pears, sliced
- Star anise
- Ribbons
- Name tags
Dehydrating pear slices is a gorgeous way to add rustic charm to your holiday spread!
Directions
- Preheat oven to 135˚F (unless using a dehydrator).
- Start by slicing your pears into ½-inch slices.
- Some slices will have holes where the seeds were. If the slice has no hole, make a small one to pull your ribbon through after drying.
- Place them spread out on a tray lined with parchment paper.
- Let them dry in your oven or dehydrator. Drying can take 6-12 hours, depending on the moisture in the pears and air and your climate and temperature.
- In the meantime, make your name tags and punch holes in them.
- Pull your ribbon through the name tag and the hole in the dried pear slice when the pears are dried.
- Make a beautiful bow tie, place the place card on the plate, and add a cute little star anise to round it off.
- To make it more colorful, you can add a little greenery, like a rosemary sprig or some pine leaves.
Finishing off a perfect holiday meal is this caramel-poached pear cake! Annette uses Superfresh Bosc pears (the ideal poaching pear) and pureed Bartlett pears for this sweetly spiced – and beautiful – cake recipe! Pear, vanilla, fall spices, cream cheese, and caramel create a heavenly combination in this dessert.
Annette drizzles the finishing touches on the caramel poached pear cake.
Poached Pear Caramel Cake
To conclude a delicious partnership, we teamed up with Luisa and Annette to give one lucky Instagram user a KitchenAid mixer for the holidays! The giveaway ran through December 17th, 2023, with over 1,000 entries.
Don’t forget about these other pear recipes from Luisa and Annette! They will also make great additions to National Pear Month and holiday celebrations!
