Silky Almond Butter & Pear Yogurt Dip with Steamed Pear Spears
Allergen lists cover the priority allergens in the recipe as written. Always check your own ingredient labels, and introduce each new allergen on its own first.
Ingredients
- 1 ripe pear, about 150 g, peeled and cored, cut into thick spears
- 15 g (1 tbsp) smooth 100% almond butter, unsalted and no-sugar-added (check the label says almonds only)
- 45 ml (3 tbsp) warm water, or the warm water from steaming the pear
- 60 g (¼ cup) full-fat plain unsweetened pasteurised yogurt — use this only if cow's-milk dairy is already established in your baby's diet. If it is not, use a plain unsweetened oat yogurt instead, choosing one made with gluten-free oats if wheat has not been introduced yet, so almond is the single new allergen (that swap also removes Dairy from this recipe's allergen list). Do not substitute soy yogurt, which simply introduces a different allergen
- 1 pinch ground cardamom or cinnamon (optional)
Method
- 1. Steam the pear spears over simmering water for 6–8 minutes, until a spear squashes easily between your thumb and forefinger. Always cook pear for a baby under 12 months — even a ripe raw pear is firm enough to be a choking hazard, and steaming is the only reliable way to know it will squash.
- 2. Reserve 3 tbsp of the hot steaming water and let the pear spears cool to just-warm.
- 3. Whisk the almond butter with the warm water a little at a time until it is completely smooth and pourable with no thick pockets left. A glob of nut butter is a choking hazard; a thin, loose sauce is not.
- 4. Stir the thinned almond butter through the yogurt with the cardamom until it is a smooth, thin dip that runs off the spoon.
- 5. Spread a THIN layer of the dip along each pear spear with the back of a teaspoon, or serve the dip in a shallow open bowl so baby can scoop with a spear or a pre-loaded spoon. Never offer nut butter by the spoonful or in a thick smear.
- 6. Serve immediately. Any leftover dip keeps 24 hours in the fridge; do not re-serve a bowl baby has already dipped into.
How to serve by age
6–8 months
Serve the steamed pear as finger-length spears about 8 cm long and 2 cm thick — long enough that part of the spear stays visible above a closed fist, which is what the palmar (whole-hand) grasp needs. Coat only in a thin smear of the dip so the spear is not too slippery to hold.
9–12 months
Dice the steamed pear into 1 cm pea-sized cubes and toss them lightly in the thinned dip so babies can practise the pincer grasp (thumb and forefinger), and offer a self-feeding spoon pre-loaded with a small amount of dip alongside.
Paediatric note
As written this recipe contains TWO allergens — tree nut and dairy — so only serve it in this form once cow's-milk dairy is already established; otherwise use the oat-yogurt swap so almond is the only new food being tested. Tree nuts are a separate allergen family from peanut, so tolerating peanut does not mean almond or cashew is safe — each needs its own introduction, and the same early-and-sustained pattern applies: once tolerated, keep almond in the diet 2–3 times a week rather than as a one-off. Whole and chopped nuts stay a choking hazard for years — UK guidance says no whole nuts before 5, US guidance says 4 — so under one year always use a smooth 100% nut butter thinned into liquid or spread paper-thin, never a spoonful and never chopped nuts. Pasteurised yogurt and cheese are fine from around 6 months, but cow's milk should not be given as a drink before 12 months.
Source guidance: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/baby/weaning-and-feeding/
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