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Think again! There's no need for it in this recipe. Alana Chernila, who wrote the new cookbook Homemade Kitchen, stopped by Tonia's Kitchen to talk about her Pear Gingerbread that is amazingly delicious. Alana told Tonia she uses Golden Syrup in the place of molasses, which is essentially inverted sugar. Alana then combines that with melted butter, brown sugar, cloves, a generous amount of ginger, and another secret, plain yogurt, which she says keeps the batter moist. Bake it all together and spread sliced pears on top. It's a great way to enjoy ginger bread, especially if you don't like molasses.
9 tablespoons butter (1 stick plus 1 tablespoon)
1 1/2 cups (1 bottle) Lyle’s Golden Syrup
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 tablespoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 beaten egg
1 cup buttermilk
3 firm pears, peeled, cored, and cut into eight slices apiece
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch round tin and line the bottom with parchment.
Melt the butter together with the golden syrup.
Sift together into a medium bowl the flour, salt, baking soda, ginger, cloves and cinnamon, Whisk to be sure that it is evenly blended.
Pour the syrup and butter onto the dry ingredients and mix well.
Add the egg and the buttermilk. Beat well. The batter will be very liquid. Do not fear.
Pour the batter into the tin. It will nearly reach the top of the pan. Arrange the pears on top of the batter. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until the middle is just set, and the edge is pulling away from the pan.
