Pear crisp

When you’re in need of a quick dessert, a simple crisp is a great option. Whether it’s with apples, pears, peaches, plums, or whatever berries you have in the fridge, crisps are the much simpler cousin of a pie. No crust, no fuss. Just a fruit on the bottom and a crumbly, oaty topping. I’ve made different versions of my crisps with seasonal fruit. One summer we picked so many peaches, that I made peach crisp a few times. This year, we have picked more apples than I could possibly quantify. But we hadn’t really dappled into pears much yet this fall season. And we do love pears in this house! So to change it up a bit from our apple coma, we bought some organic Bartlett pears from Aldi, which are always a great price, and decided to make a pear crisp for dessert for a family birthday dinner.

I sliced the pears rather thin and placed them in a glass baking dish. Then I packed on a homemade crumble topping of rolled oats, almond flour, oat flour, coconut oil, a smidge of salt, and a healthy dose of cinnamon. I actually prepped this ahead of time and kept it in the fridge until we were ready to bake it. While we ate dinner, I baked the pear crisp for about an hour so it would be hot and bubbly, ready in time to be served hot for dessert with scoop of vanilla ice cream. Everyone loved it!

The pears are so sweet and their natural juices caramelize as the bake in the oven, so there’s really no need to add any extra sugar or sweetness. The oat flour in the crumble topping mixes with the sweet pear juices to create a thick, sauce-like consistency, and the dish thickens even more as it cools, so it’s just perfect for scooping out into bowls. Such a clean, warming dessert that would even make for a delicious breakfast. Simply serve it hot like an oatmeal or cold with organic Greek yogurt. Yum!

Pear crisp

7 small organic Bartlett pears
1 cup organic sprouted rolled oats
6 Tbsp. (45g) organic almond flour
3/4 cup (99g) organic sprouted oat flour
60g organic coconut oil
salt to taste
ground cinnamon

First, slice the pears in half and remove the cores and stems. Then slice thinly and arrange into a glass baking dish. Next, make the crumble topping. In a bowl, mix together the rolled oats, oat flour, almond flour, salt, and cinnamon. Then, mix in the room-temperature coconut oil, using a spoon or your hands to break up the chunks of coconut oil. You want to achieve a crumbly texture. Pour the crumble mixture over the pears in the baking dish and spread out and press down so the topping fully covers the pears and is packed down. You may want to place another baking sheet underneath your dish while it bakes in case it drips. Bake at 350F for about one hour or until the pears are cooked down and bubbling and the topping is golden brown. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.