This Pear Crumble is the perfect fall dessert. Sweet pear filling topped with a gingersnap crumble is baked in an iron skillet to a sweet & crunchy finale.
⅔cupsugar(can lower to ½ cup if you like your filling less sweet)
⅓cupflour
½teaspoonginger
¼teaspoonsalt
2 ¼lbspears, room temperature(about 8)
1Tablespoonlemon juice
1teaspoonvanilla extract
Gingersnap Crumble
15gingersnaps,ground into coarse crumbs
½cupflour
⅓cupbrown sugar
⅓cupoats
⅓cupwalnuts,chopped
1teaspooncinnamon
½cupbutter,cubed (make sure it is very cold)
Garnish: hot caramel sauce,vanilla ice cream
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 10” iron skillet with nonstick spray.
Pear Filling
In a small bowl, combine flour, sugar, ginger and salt.
Peel and thinly slice pears and place in large bowl.
Sprinkle with lemon juice and vanilla extract and stir.
Add dry mixture to pears and stir gently until all pear pieces are covered with mix.
Pour into prepared iron skillet.
Crumble Topping
In a medium bowl, combine gingersnaps, flour, sugar, oats, walnuts and cinnamon. Stir.
Take butter from refrigerator, cut down center of stick then cut horizontally into small cubes. Add to gingersnap mixture.
Using a pastry cutter, cut through mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. I like to use my hands at the end to make sure there are no chunks of butter and all the dry mixture has been coated.
Sprinkle on top of pears.
Place in oven and bake for 30 minutes.
Remove carefully, remembering to grab the handle with a pot holder. Place on wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes.
Drizzle hot caramel sauce over topping.
Serve warm with a dollop of vanilla ice cream on top. You can even drizzle more caramel sauce if you want.
Notes
VARIATIONSBy just adding different fruits you can change this up and serve a different crisp every night all through the season.Pear Blueberry Crisp - Try a ratio of 4 cups pears and 3 cups blueberries.Apple Pear Crumble - add 3 cups of apples and 4 cups of pears for a tasty fall dessert. Granny Smith, Gala, Honey Crisp, Pink Lady, and Winesap are all good apples to choose from. Cut the slices smaller than the pears as they will take longer to cook.Pear Cranberry Crumble - 6 cups pears to 1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries. It's the perfect dessert for the holiday season.Pear Blackberry Crisp - Combine 4-5 cups of pears and 2 cups of blackberries for a change of paceOther fruit - Try peaches and cherries as additions to pears too.Tropical flavor - Add sweetened coconut to the filling or the crumble or both!