Pear Ricotta Coffee Cake

I had some leftover crumb topping from my Cranraisin Eggnog Muffins that I wanted to use up.  I also had some pears and ricotta cheese that was about to go bad so I decided to make this coffee cake.  I listed the measurements and instructions for the streusel topping but didn’t use it.  Feel free to use this one or the topping recipe from the Cranraisin Eggnog Muffins.  Both are delicious!  But whatever you do, be sure to use pear brandy for that extra pear flavor in the coffee cake.  If you don’t have pear brandy, regular brandy will do too.

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Ingredients:

Coffee Cake:

• 1 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 2 1/4 teaspoons of baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 cup of ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup of milk
• 1 teaspoon of pear brandy (I used Poire Williams)
• 2 medium ripe pears, unpeeled, cored and chopped

Streusel Topping:

• 1/2 cup of dark muscovado sugar
• 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons of cold unsalted butter, cut in small pieces
• 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.  Grease an 8-inch square baking pan.

In a medium bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, ground cinnamon and salt.  Mix well and set aside.

Using a stand mixer (or mix by hand) add together egg, butter, ricotta cheese, milk and pear brandy.  Mix until well combined.  Slowly add the dry ingredients to the ricotta mixture until just moistened.  Fold in pears and pour into prepared pan.

Make the crumb topping: In a small bowl mix in dark muscovado sugar, flour, butter and ground cinnamon.  Use your fingers to mix until you have a crumbly mixture.  Sprinkle streusel topping mixture evenly over the top.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick/tester inserted into the center comes out clean.  Let the coffee cake cool in the pan on the cooling rack.

Adapted from About.com