Yummly
This easy recipe turns ripe pears into a luscious, wholesome dessert in no time at all. Crumbly with the goodness of old-fashioned oats, rich with butter, and fragrant with ground cinnamon, this delicious fruit crumble is equally suited to a casual weeknight treat or a pleasing dinner party dessert. ## Why We Love Fruit Desserts Of the many comforting things to come out of an oven, fruit desserts top the list. Crumbles and pies are a great way to use seasonal fruits, and not necessarily only the perfect ones. Fruit desserts can make delicious and economical use of less than perfect-looking fruits — keep your gorgeous, large pears for the fruit bowl; in this luscious pear crumble, the only thing that matters is flavor. Go ahead and use small or medium pears and blemished pears in this dessert. You can trim away any bruises or imperfections as you slice them. As long as your pears are delicious, your crumble will be delicious too. ## Baking With Pears If you've never baked with pears, you’re in for a nice surprise. They are a sophisticated alternative to apples. They have a complex, distinctive flavor, and their unique texture comes through especially well in baked pear desserts. You may discover that you like pears even more than apples in fruit desserts. There are many varieties of pears, and all of them are wonderful. The juicy, green Anjou pear is available much of the year and it's a great baking pear. So is the aromatic Bartlett pear, one of the most commonly cultivated and widely available varieties. Pears are also delicious in winter when many other fruits are out of season. ## Simple Satisfaction This easy dessert recipe delivers all of the pleasure of a pie. It has that same contrast of buttery crispness with luscious, juicy fruit. It smells just as fabulous while it's baking, and it's every bit as delicious. This pear crumble takes much less time to make than a pie does, though. Pie needs a pie crust, which takes patience and finesse. Making a pie also takes up a lot of counter space for rolling out the dough. You don't need much space to make a fruit crumble, and you don't need any special tools or equipment, either. All you need is a medium bowl to combine the oats with the other crumble topping ingredients, a large bowl for the pear mixture, your measuring cups and spoons, and a knife to slice the pears. This makes pear crumble an ideal dessert for small kitchens. It's also perfect for big events, like holidays or dinner parties, when kitchen space is in high demand. ## Wholesome Goodness When you combine oats with all-purpose flour, sugar, cinnamon, and butter, you get a crumble topping with great flavor and texture. Much of the sweetness in this crumble comes from ripe pears, and the cookie-like topping uses a moderate amount of butter, making it relatively low-fat compared to many desserts. Another nice thing about fruit crumbles is that they're easy to customize to your taste and dietary habits. If you like plenty of spice, you could add a pinch of ground nutmeg. You could try substituting brown sugar for part of the white sugar in the crumble topping or sweeten the fruit with some pure maple syrup. You can even make it gluten-free by using only oats and oat flour in place of whole-wheat or all-purpose flour in the crumble topping. ## Ideal For Picnics And Potlucks Crumbles keep well and they're not at all fragile. You can make crumbles well in advance; their thick, cookie-like topping won't soften quickly. They don't need to stay cool, either. Crumbles are delicious served at room temperature. This makes them perfect for picnics or potlucks. You can transport a crumble right in its own baking dish, placed on a flat surface and covered lightly with foil. Not only that, but you can also easily double the recipe if you're serving a crowd. Just make sure to use a large enough baking dish so that the crumble is not too thick and the fruit cooks through nicely. Easy, wholesome and delicious, this may become one of your favorite recipes.
