Upside-Down Pear Gingerbread

I love pears. I absolutely love pears. But I DEFINITELY don’t get to eat enough of them because they go bad fairly quickly. And I never get to work with them in the kitchen (that’s mainly because I’ll eat them before they end up being used). So I’ve decided that my next two recipes will be pear recipes! Today’s is Upside-Down Pear Gingerbread! This is a beautiful dessert with strong flavor, and it leaves a warm feeling in your stomach when you’ve finished eating. It’s yummy and simple, so what better reason is there to give this recipe a try?

Ingredients:

·      ¼ cup brown sugar

·      2 tbsp granulated sugar

·      1 tbsp butter, melted

·      1 tbsp water

·      2 ripe pears, peeled, cored, and sliced

·      1 cup flour

·      ½ cup whole wheat flour

·      1 tsp baking soda

·      1 tsp ground ginger

·      ½ tsp ground cinnamon

·      ¼ tsp ground nutmeg

·      ¼ tsp ground allspice

·      ¼ tsp salt

·      1/3 cup butter, softened

·      ½ cup brown sugar

·      1 egg

·      ½ cup molasses

·      ½ cup buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Combine the ½ cup brown sugar, granulated sugar, melted butter, and water in a baking dish. Arrange the pear slices on top of the sugar mixture. Combine the flours, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and salt in a separate bowl and set aside. Beat the softened butter and ½ cup brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat for a minute longer. Alternate adding the molasses and buttermilk with the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture. Pour the final combined mixture over the pears in the baking dish. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for a few minutes, turn over onto a platter, and serve with whipped cream!