Last week some of my good friends brought me over a huge back of freshly-picked pears and apples. And as I was trying to plan how to put them to use over the next week, the idea of caramel pears came to mind. And then better — caramel pear cookies!
I’m always looking for an excuse to pick up a bag of those adorable little caramel bits at the grocery store, so was more than happy to give the recipe idea a try. Went with a cinnamon-y dough, and then just finely diced the pear so that there could be some nice little fruit chunks in there. And oh my goodness. They turned out A-MAZING. Seriously, I was expecting them to be tasty, but they were go-back-for-seconds-and-thirds-and-(ok-admit-it)-fourths crazy good. I actually ended up making two batches of them last weekend, so took them to share with friends and family and neighbors, and everyone gave them rave reviews.
Especially while it’s fresh pear season, I highly recommend giving these caramel pear cookies a try!
Caramel Pear Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups + 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 12 Tbsp. (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled until just warm
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, plus 1 large egg yolk
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 cup caramel bits
- 1 pear, finely diced (about 1 cup)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Whisk the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- Use an electric mixer to cream together butter and sugars until well blended. Beat in the egg, yolk, and vanilla until combined. Add in the dry ingredient mixture and beat on low speed until just combined. Carefully stir in the caramel bits and diced pears until combined.
- Use a small cookie scoop or a spoon to form the dough into tablespoon-fulls. Place on a cookie sheet at least 2.5 inches apart, and then dot on top with a few additional caramel bits. Bake cookies until the outer edges are golden and begin to slightly harden, about 15 minutes. Remove and let the cookies cool on the baking sheets.
Did you make this?Let me know how it turned out in the comments below!
I made these last week and they were delicious! I couldn’t find the bits so I bought the regular sized caramel squares and cut them. I also used parchment paper like another reviewer recommended.
Caramel & pear are so perfect together, what scrumptious cookies!
I made these yesterday as I had some pears to use up and had the caramel bits (not knowing what I would do with them until now). These are to die for! Such a unique and “gourmet” flavor combo and the whole family loved them! Thanks for posting! BTW, don’t forget to use parchment on the pans – it really helped in removing them when the caramel bits were melted.
Argh – SUCH a good point. I should have mentioned that too. I tried one batch sans parchment when I ran out, and they were stuck to the pan until they completely dried. Thanks, Kathy!
I think it’s so genius that you added pears to cookies! You don’t seem much of those. And the presentation is absolute stunning with the kitchen twine!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE how vibrantly you’ve photographed these cookies!
Great idea! I love pretty much anything in a cookie :)
why does the recipe call for melted butter?
This recipe looks delicious and I can’t wait to make it. My mom used to make pear bread when I was little and I just loved the sweetness of the pear in a dessert.
Question: What brand of caramel bits did you use? Where did you find them?
Hi Kathleen!
I used Kraft caramel bits, and found them at the grocery store next to the regular cubed Kraft caramels. I adore pears in desserts too! Hope you enjoy. :)
~A
Love that you were able to work fresh pears into cookies! Ive tried with fresh mangoes with meh results. Great taste but they are so juicy the cookie dough seemed to thin out so much and made for thin cookies. Tasted great but not thick. Yours look thick & perfect!
How perfect to combine pear + caramel!! It sounds like a delectable fall combination. And the stack of twine-wrapped cookies are so adorable :)
The cute little twine! Ali you are adorable and so are the little stacks of wrapped cookies. :) The pear and caramel combination – clever, creative, and perfect this time of year.