Red Pear and Blackberry Salad with Maple Walnuts

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This Red Pear and Blackberry Salad with Maple Walnuts is the perfect late summer salad. It puts to good use the later seasonal foods in a really healthy way.

It is light, simple to make and so flavorful! I love the fresh fruits in this salad, but also really love the maple coated walnuts. It is a healthier version of the sugar-coated walnuts, which I also really love :).

Maple Sweetened Walnuts

Let's start with the walnuts. They are simple to make but take longer than anything else in this salad. It is 4 simple ingredients for the glaze- pure maple syrup, butter, vanilla, and salt. Add them to a small saucepan.

Bring to a boil for a minute or so.

Pour over your walnuts and mix well.

Lay on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake. Now, it doesn't have to be parchment-lined, but it makes clean up so much easier if you do!!

Here are the finished nuts. Your house will smell amazing, I promise you! Allow them to cool. You can serve them whole like I did, or chop into smaller pieces too. They are great stored in an airtight container for up to 5 days as well.

Red Pear and Blackberry Salad with Maple Walnuts

Assembling the Red Pear and Blackberry Salad with Maple Walnuts is so simple. Start with a base of spinach, add plenty of the red pears and blackberries, and maple walnuts. I drizzled mine with a red wine poppyseed dressing, recipe below. It is my current favorite for fruit salads. It is wonderful! We loved this salad so much, we ate it for at least 4 days in a row, which is a lot for me. I love variety in my diet!

If you are looking for some delicious dressing to try on this salad, let me share a few of my favorites. This balsamic poppyseed dressing is an all-time favorite! Next up is a delicious citrus-balsamic dressing, I love those orange undertones. How about a red wine vinaigrette? Or even a creamy apple cider vinaigrette.