Caramel Pear Cookies -- A Recipe Worth Keeping

Gloria's seventy-second birthday was Saturday and it was the fourth year of the coconut cake and the fried chicken birthday dinner and the off-key singing and the afternoon on the back porch in the April light. Gloria looked at the cake for the usual long moment when I brought it in and then she said: same as always. I said: same as always. She said: good. That is the right answer. The same as always is not a failure of imagination. It is a success of tradition.

Tyler brought a bourbon pecan pie, which is my recipe that he has now made twice, and the combination of the coconut cake and the pecan pie and the fried chicken is our full birthday spread now. We ate it with James and with Tyler and with Miss Leona from church who comes every year and who tasted the pie and said: whose recipe is that? Tyler said: Savannah's. She looked at me and said: you are a real cook, young lady. I said: I have had good teachers. She said: you have had them and you have kept them. That is different. I sat with that for the rest of the afternoon. You have had them and kept them. That is the thing. The keeping.

Gloria said at the end of the day, when I was washing up and Tyler was on the porch with James: I want you to know I am proud of you. She said it plainly, the way she says things she has been meaning to say for a while. I set down the dish and said: I know. She said: I want to say it. I said: then I am listening. She said: I am proud of you. I said: thank you, Gloria. She said: thank you too.

What Miss Leona said about keeping your teachers stayed with me through the rest of the dishes and into the evening, and I kept thinking about what it means to actually hold onto a recipe — not just have it written down somewhere, but make it often enough that your hands know it. These Caramel Pear Cookies are one of those. They’re soft and a little unexpected, and I started bringing them to things the way Tyler has started bringing the pecan pie: because they always feel right, and because the people you love deserve something sweet that someone made on purpose, for them.

Caramel Pear Cookies

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 12 minutes | Total Time: 27 minutes | Servings: 24 cookies

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup fresh pear, peeled and finely diced (about 1 medium pear)
• 1 cup soft caramel bits (or soft caramel candies, roughly chopped)

Instructions

1. Preheat. Heat your oven to 375°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Mix dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon until evenly combined.
3. Cream butter and sugars. In a large bowl, beat the softened butter with both sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
4. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then add the vanilla extract and mix until smooth.
5. Combine. Reduce mixer speed to low and gradually add the flour mixture, mixing just until no dry streaks remain. Do not overmix.
6. Fold in pear and caramel. Using a spatula, gently fold in the diced pear and caramel bits until evenly distributed throughout the dough.
7. Portion the dough. Drop rounded tablespoons of dough onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 2 inches apart.
8. Bake. Bake for 10–12 minutes, until the edges are just set and the tops look barely done. They will firm up as they cool — pull them before they look finished.
9. Cool. Let cookies rest on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. The caramel bits will be molten at first — give them time.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 182 | Protein: 2g | Fat: 9g | Carbs: 25g | Fiber: 0.5g | Sodium: 98mg