Sunday Brunch: Pear Cranberry Crisp
[Photo: Robin Bellinger]
I have to admit that this pear cranberry crisp was supposed to be one of our Thanksgiving desserts, but after baking two pies I recovered from my ambitious-first-time-hostess syndrome and decided the crisp could wait a few days. A fragrant, indulgent weekend lunch it was, then, and will be again if I have any say in the matter.
I used a mix of Bosc, Comice, and Bartlett pears. Use a fresh fruit dessert to enliven a brunch of leftovers, bake it in ramekins to serve as part of a fancier meal, or dish it up with nothing but thick, unsweetened crème fraîche or lightly sweetened whipped cream—all but the most health-conscious breakfasters will fall upon it happily.
Pear Cranberry Crisp
-serves 8-
Inspired by The Last Course
Ingredients
1 cup dried cranberries
8 ripe pears (about 2 1/4 pounds), cored and sliced
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups flour
Slightly rounded 1/3 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Scant 1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
Crème fraîche or whipped cream to serve
Procedure
1. Preheat the oven to 375°. Toss the cranberries, pears, vanilla, and 1/4 cup granulated sugar together in a bowl with 1/4 cup water.
2. In another bowl, whisk together the remaining 1/4 cup granulated sugar, flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Drizzle in the butter and stir with a fork until the mixture is crumbly and all the flour is incorporated. Do not allow the mixture to come together into a ball.
3. Spread the fruit in a 9x13 baking dish (or in eight 8-ounce ramekins). Use your fingers to sprinkle the crumb topping over the fruit, breaking up any large crumbs (crumbs larger than 1 inch will not cook through). Bake until the filling is bubbling and the topping is browned, about 40 minutes. The juices should bubble thickly; otherwise the fruit will be soggy. Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature with crème fraîche or whipped cream.
View other entries from Sunday Brunch.
Add a comment:
Previewing your comment:
HTML Hints
Some HTML is OK: <a href="URL">link</a>, <strong>strong</strong>, <em>em</em>
Comment Guidelines
Post whatever you want, just keep it seriously about eats, seriously. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. Learn more at our Comment Policy page.
If you see something not so nice, please, report an inappropriate comment.
9 Comments:
Sounds good. This is close to the recipe I used for Thanksgiving, except I made apple-cran crisp, and served them up in ramekins. Fantastic with vanilla ice cream, and even better on the second day!
bynkman at 9:43AM on 11/29/09
This sounds yummy. I have a house full of guests and am just exhausted from cooking and cleaning. I was hoping to put out a big spread this morning breakfast but instead I went to whole foods and picked up Batter Blaster organic pancake mix from a spray can, fresh fruit and pastries.
AllisonScott at 10:01AM on 11/29/09
I've been on a pear kick lately, thanks for another recipe!
wendypchef at 10:42AM on 11/29/09
i'd love to make this, but have lots of trouble getting 8 pears to ripen at the same time to the same stage. most of the time i get a few ripe pears and some hard pears and then the mucky, mushy pears. any hints how to achieve 8 pears a-ripening. btw, i have tried the brown bag ripening "trick" but still have gotten good results
alienor at 11:35AM on 11/29/09
Our apple-cranberry oat casserole is cooling as I type!
Onepot at 2:11PM on 11/29/09
Hmm, I am definitely not a ripeness expert. I bought the pears on Tuesday and used them Saturday because two of them were starting to get mushy and spotted. I tasted each kind as I sliced, and while they were all soft and juicy, none would have made for delicious eating raw. I think the important thing is probably just that the pears not be at the inedibly hard stage.
Robin Bellinger at 11:48PM on 11/29/09
Tried this for dessert tonight and it was a hit! I agree with Robin; I don't think it matters how ripe the pears are. I did cut out the brown bits.
emilydev at 6:26PM on 11/30/09
pear-cranberry-crisp
*drool*
blindowl at 6:02PM on 12/02/09
I made an apple/pear/cranberry oatmeal crisp for Thanksgiving... very good. flavors were wonderful!!
farmkat at 2:12PM on 12/04/09