Rich with chocolate chips and pears, this melt-in-your-mouth vegan treat is delicious as a dessert or tea bread. They’re especially good with tea as a cool-weather dessert. Easy enough as an everyday dessert, yummy enough for holiday fare (especially around the winter holidays), this might just become your go-to sweet bread.
Makes: 9 to 12 squares, or 3 mini-loaves
- 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/3 cup natural granulated sugar
- 1 cup applesauce
- 2 tablespoons safflower or other neutral vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened nondairy milk, or as needed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ripe pear, any variety, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4-inch dice
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts or pecans
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In a mixing bowl, combine the first 5 (dry) ingredients.
Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the applesauce, oil, and nondairy milk. Stir together; add additional nondairy milk if needed for the wet and dry ingredients to blend, but don’t overdo it — this should be a slightly stiff batter.
Stir in the diced pear and chocolate chips, then pour the batter into a lightly oiled 9- inch square pan, or three mini-loaf pans. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the top is golden and a knife inserted in the center tests clean.
Allow to cool to room temperature before cutting into squares, wedges, or slices to serve.
- Here are more Vegan Quick Breads and Scones.
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10 Comments
Lau
December 28, 2011 at 2:32 pmHi!! Thank you! I really liked them (Chocolate Chip Pear Blondies), especially when they were still warm 🙂
Nava
December 29, 2011 at 3:46 pmGlad you enjoyed these, Lau!
Kay
February 5, 2014 at 3:33 pmI have a gluten intolerance is there any other flour I can use to make these?
Nava
February 5, 2014 at 3:35 pmKay — I should have put this in the recipe — you can substitute a gluten-free flour blend like Bob’s Red Mill in the same quantity for the flour recommended here.
Victoria
February 6, 2014 at 12:23 pmCan I use bananas instead of pears?
Nava
February 6, 2014 at 12:32 pmIndeed you can, that would be a very good substitution!
michelle
February 27, 2014 at 1:52 pmCan I use Sugar in the raw (100% natural turbinado cane sugar) Will that work just as well?
Nava
February 27, 2014 at 2:33 pmMichelle, yes, that would work.
Ally
July 22, 2014 at 12:41 amHi, l have been looking up your recipes, especially this recipe catches my eyes 🙂 so wondering what can l use instead of apple sauce? And can l put some peach ?
Nava
July 23, 2014 at 12:36 pmHi Ally, you can use yogurt, preferably non-dairy. Or some additional oil, like safflower, though that’s the very reason I use applesauce, as it’s a good fat substitute! And yes, peach would be a lovely substitute for pear during the summer months.