Pear Puree with Optional Cinnamon is right up there with Apple Puree as a delightful first fruit to offer baby when they start solid foods. So easy to make and great for freezing, you can serve this pear baby food on its own or mix it with cereal, natural yoghurt or other fruits and vegetables for your own favoured combinations. The addition of cinnamon here gives a lovely warmth to the natural sweetness of pears.
Ingredients in Pear and Cinnamon Puree
This is a super simple baby food to start with, needing just one or two ingredients:
Fresh pears – I use Packham pears, a common Australian variety. Any type of pear will work though – Bosc, Anjou or Bartlett pear. Choose what’s in season and looks fresh. Often the pears I buy aren’t quite ripe, and so I leave them in the fruit bowl on the kitchen bench for a couple of days until they soften. This improves the juiciness and flavour, it’s worth the wait! If impatient, you can put them in a paper bag with a banana to speed up the process.
Spice – I’ve added cinnamon as an optional ingredient in this simple recipe, but it’s up to you to include or leave out.
Tips for making this Pear Puree recipe
As with most fruit and vegetables for homemade baby purees, I use the simmering basket in my Thermomix to cook the pears, as steaming (rather than boiling) is often the best way to preserve both taste and nutrients. Remember that the amount of time needed to steam the pear will vary, depending on how ripe they are, and how small you’ve chopped the pear pieces. When you’re done steaming, either in your Thermomix or steamer basket on the stovetop, just check that you’ve cooked the pears until soft. Avoid overcooking – I find it best with pears to check and increase cooking time if needed, rather than set a longer cook time to begin with.
Of course, the easiest way to blend a homemade puree is by using an all-in-one appliance, baby food maker, food processor or immersion blender but you can also get a workout with a potato masher!
See the recipe card below for ingredient amounts and detailed steps for both thermo cooker and conventional methods.
Serving Pear Puree
In the first couple of weeks of starting solids, I served this homemade puree either on its own or with iron-fortified baby cereal. Once I’d introduced Baby LJ to allergens and was happy with the amount of iron-rich foods he was having throughout the day, I then switched to serving it with Weet-Bix and milk or yoghurt. I also added my Nut and Seed Sprinkle every so often for an extra nutrition boost and to keep up his exposure to allergens, as per the Australian National Allergy Council recommendations [1].
First stage weaning or second stage weaning? This pear baby puree recipe is ideal for first foods, so both Stage 1 (around 6 months of age) and Stage 2 (around 6-9 months) weaning. For first stage/younger babies, try offering this dish for the first time without the cinnamon and with a very smooth texture by mixing through a little cooled boiled water, formula milk or expressed breast milk immediately before serving. For second stage weaning/older babies, add the cinnamon or other spice and increase the texture by blending/pureeing for less time. The great thing about homemade baby food is that as baby grows and develops, you can adjust the texture from runny/smooth purees to chunkier mashed foods, to serving appropriately chopped soft finger food as you would for the family.
Baby food combinations
Homemade pear puree is perfect to combine with other first foods, to make your own baby food combinations. Make this puree without the spice, along with other single-ingredient puree recipes like this pureed Sweet Potatoes (with Optional Sumac) or Carrot Puree (with Optional Ginger) . You can then mix the flavours together to create your own baby purees. It can be really useful when baby first starts solid foods to freeze purees in an ice-cube tray, and then when frozen transfer to a labelled freezer bag. First fruits are really versatile. Mix and match the frozen cubes as your growing baby progresses with flavour combinations. It’s great way to gradually introduce them to new foods alongside their favourite fruits and vegetables!
If you try this Pear Puree, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how you go in the 📝 comments below. It’s always great to hear from you! Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest too for more delicious baby food recipes.
Happy pureeing!
Chloe x
Pear Puree with Optional Cinnamon
Category: PuréeTap or hover to scale
Ingredients
- 2 ripe pears peeled, cored and roughly chopped
- 500 g water
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon ground or powder (optional)
Thermo Cooker Instructions
- Put the pear into the simmering basket.
- Pour the water into the mixing bowl. Insert the simmering basket and cook for 10 minutes, Varoma, speed 2, MC on.
- Remove the simmering basket, and discard the liquid.
- Put the pear into the mixing bowl. If using, add the cinnamon. Chop for 15 seconds, speed 7, MC on, making sure to increase the speed gradually to avoid the pear immediately sticking to the sides of the mixing bowl. Scrape down the mixing bowl and lid, and repeat until you are happy with the consistency (Note 1).
Conventional Instructions
- Steam the pears using a steamer basket over a saucepan/pot with lid for 10 minutes or until pears are tender.
- In a food processor or with a hand blender, blend pear together with cinnamon (if using), until you are happy with the consistency (Note 1).
Recipe Notes
Nutrition Information
[1] Nip allergies in the bub, 2018, National Allergy Strategy.
[2] Homemade baby food, 2023, Raising Children Network Australia.
