A sweet pear and toasted nut filled coffee cake with a crunchy topping. Use a good baking pear such as Bosc or Bartlett.

Recipe adapted from Better Homes and Gardens Christmas Baking 2007

Ingredients:

Topping:

1 cup toasted walnuts or pecans, coarsely chopped

1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Note: See Baking How To's for how to toast nuts.

Filling:

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

¼ cup unsalted butter, chilled

2 pears (about 2 cups), peeled, cored, and coarsely chopped

2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Batter:

1¾ cups all-purpose flour

¾ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup sour cream

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9 inch baking pan. Or, to make the baked cake easier to remove from the pan, lightly grease the pan, line with parchment paper, then lightly grease again.
   
   Topping:
2. In a small bowl, combine nuts, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Set aside.
   
   Filling:
3. In a medium bowl, combine 1/3 cup flour and ¼ cup butter. With a pastry blender or two knives, cut butter into flour until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add ¾ cup of the topping nut mixture; stir to mix. Set aside.
   
   
4. Toss pears with lemon juice. Set aside.
   
   Batter:
5. In a medium bowl, sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together. Set aside.
   
   
6. In a large bowl, combine ½ cup butter and sugar; cream together until mixture appears light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat until thoroughly mixed. Alternately add some of the sifted flour mixture, and the sour cream to the batter, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, and stirring just until blended.
   
   
7. Spread two-thirds of the batter in the pan. Sprinkle the filling mixture over the batter. Layer pears on top of the filling. Gently spread the remaining batter over the pears. Sprinkle the topping mixture over the batter.
   
   
8. Bake 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack. If using a springform pan, remove pan from oven and let cool about 15 minutes. Loosen side of pan, then grabbing the top edges of the parchment paper, lift cake from pan and finish cooling on wire rack. Remove parchment paper and discard.
   
   Makes 8 to 10 servings.
   
   TheBakingPan.com