After the success of apple and chocolate chip cookies, here are my delicious pear and chocolate cookies. Very soft they melt in your mouth, fragrant, easy and quick to prepare.
The cookies with pears and dark chocolate flakes are delicious treats perfect for any occasion. They are prepared in a flash, without needing any special equipment! You won’t need an electric mixer, rolling pin, or even cookie cutters.
They can be made at the last minute and enjoyed any time of the day, whether it’s breakfast or snack time.
I also call them spoon cookies! In fact, at the end of the preparation, the dough will be so soft and sticky that you will definitely need two spoons to proceed!
The beauty of these chocolate cookies is that they have the shape of the famous and delicious cookies but their texture resembles that of a soft and delightful cake filled with fresh fruit.
In this case, the starring role is played by the pear, but we can replace it with any other fruit we like.
I have already tried making this recipe with just apples, with apples and chocolate chips, with pears and chocolate, and even with strawberries… I loved them all!
To make the chocolate and pear cookies you need simple ingredients. Eggs, sugar, cocoa, flour and baking powder, pears, butter and chocolate.
To flavor the dough I used ground cinnamon which goes perfectly with the other ingredients.
If you prefer, you can use orange zest or mandarin, almond or rum flavor.
We can also prepare these cookies with vegetable margarine instead of butter. I personally tried and they are delicious in both versions. However, I recommend choosing butter or margarine of excellent quality.
For a LACTOSE-FREE version, we can use lactose-free butter. Instead of all-purpose flour, rice flour works for a GLUTEN-FREE version (read the doses below).
The beauty of these pear cookies is that they can be personalized in a thousand ways, using the fruit we like best. I have already tried the simple version with only apples, the one with apples and walnuts, with pears and chocolate chips and with strawberries, all amazing!
Chocolate and pear cookies are great not only for breakfast but also for a wholesome and genuine snack, even for the little ones so they eat more fruit!
In Italy, the pear harvest is concentrated in a couple of months, from mid-July to mid-September, but even in the autumn and winter season, we find some varieties of pears. Therefore, we can prepare soft chocolate and pear cookies whenever we feel like enjoying them!
They remain soft for days, just cover them so they don’t dry out. At the end of the recipe I also explain how to freeze them.
Before you start, here are some other delicious recipes to make your awakening really special!
Make sure to read all the way through, useful tips for making this recipe and a little gift are waiting for you at the end 🩷
- Cost: Medium
- Rest time: 30 Minutes
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 10 to 20 pieces
- Cooking methods: Electric oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 5.6 oz butter (or margarine, at room temperature)
- 0.6 cups sugar (white or brown)
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon (or orange zest or preferred flavorings)
- 1 egg (medium whole)
- 1 egg yolk
- 0.1 cups cornstarch (or potato starch. If missing, use only flour for a total of 7.1 oz)
- 1 pinch salt
- 6 oz all-purpose flour
- 0.5 oz unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 pear (weight without skin 7.1 oz)
- 2.1 oz dark chocolate (or milk chocolate)
- 2 tsp baking powder
Tools
- Bowl
- 2 Spoons
- Baking Sheet
- Spatula
- Parchment Paper
Steps
In a bowl, place softened butter (or if you prefer, vegetable margarine) and sugar.
Flavor with a teaspoon of ground cinnamon or orange zest if you prefer.
Add a pinch of salt and mix with a spatula until you get a creamy mixture.
Crack a medium whole egg and one yolk inside (keep the egg white in the fridge since you can reuse it for other preparations).
Mix well until the eggs are absorbed. If at first it seems like they don’t bind, it’s normal, keep mixing!
At this point, incorporate the dry ingredients: unsweetened cocoa, baking powder, potato starch, and flour. Use a sieve to avoid lumps.
Mix well always with a spatula until you obtain a soft and homogeneous mixture.
If you don’t have potato starch, you can replace it with cornstarch or if missing, use only flour for a total of 7.1 oz.
We’re almost there! Wash and peel a pear, cut it into small cubes of equal size.
Add the pear cubes to the dough along with dark chocolate coarsely chopped into flakes. Milk chocolate is also fine.
Mix well until you get a very soft and sticky dough that you cannot work with your hands but necessarily with two spoons.
Take a baking sheet, drop a few drops of water on the bottom and place a sheet of parchment paper on top. It will stick perfectly thanks to the water without wasting oil or butter.
Before placing the dough on the baking sheet, note the following.
If you like smaller and more regular-shaped cookies, I absolutely recommend using paper molds to place the dough in.
Muffin molds will work fine, or silicone ones. If you don’t mind this spread shape like cookies, proceed as I did!
The final number of cookies is variable depending on how much dough you take to form each piece!
I got 9 very large cookies but if you use paper molds, you can get more than 20. It’s up to you, it’s a matter of taste.
Take a bit of dough with a spoon and let it drop onto the baking sheet creating a mound. You will need to help yourself with two spoons, of course.
During baking, the cookies spread out, leave some space between each mound.
If you use paper molds, you won’t have this problem because the cookies will rise in height, not width.
If you can’t fit all the dough on the baking sheet, don’t worry, once baked you can do a second batch!
Bake in a static preheated oven at 340°F (or fan at 320°F) for ABOUT 20-25 minutes.
If preferred, you can also bake the cookies in an air fryer, choose the oven or cake mode according to your model, 300°F for about 20 minutes.
As soon as they start to slightly color, remove the chocolate and pear cookies from the oven, after doing a toothpick test.
If they are cooked, let them cool without touching as they are very delicate and may break.
Once cooled, you can enjoy the goodness of this very soft cookie, with pears and chocolate, fragrant, genuine, and truly delicious!
I hope you’re tempted to try them! Let me know if you do! Until next time!
FAQ (Questions and Answers)
How many days do these cookies last?
They stay soft for several days, in fact, the more days pass, the softer they seem as long as they are stored correctly. They should not be left uncovered because they dry out. Just put them on a tray and cover with an appropriate dome. Or in a container with an airtight seal.
Can I freeze the pear cookies?
Absolutely! I usually prepare breakfast for the whole week and store it in the freezer to avoid unnecessary waste. In this case, you can portion the cookies using multiple food bags or put them in a container with a lid. For convenience, I recommend separating each layer of cookies with a little parchment paper so they don’t stick together, making it easier to defrost only the amount needed.
Can I replace butter with vegetable margarine?
Yes, the amount is always the same.
Can I add some nuts to the dough?
Sure! You can enrich these cookies in many ways! For example, with the nuts you prefer (almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, pine nuts). The amount to use is 50 grams.
Can I omit the chocolate?
Absolutely, you can omit the chocolate without needing to adjust the other ingredients.
For a gluten-free version, can I use rice flour and in what quantity?
Certainly. The amount of rice flour is 150 grams while the amount of potato starch (or cornstarch) is 55 grams.
Can I use seed oil instead of butter?
If you want, yes, but having tried these cookies only with butter, I’m not sure how the final texture will change. Alternatively, we can replace the butter with 125 grams of seed oil (it’s better to avoid olive oil to not weigh down the final taste). I’ll leave you with my butter/oil conversion table that might be useful on other occasions.
