Pear and Almond Crumble

Pear and Almond Crumble, seasoned with a pinch a cardamom, is a unique and delicious alternative to apple crisp. With a dollop of yogurt, it’s perfect for breakfast; with vanilla bean ice cream, it makes a wonderful dessert.

It’s been years and years since I’ve had a crumble or crisp, but once I got the idea of pear crumble into my head well… you can see what happened. (I don’t know why, but I’m all about pears this fall. Anyone else?) I actually forgot how easy crumbles are to make: it takes less than 10 minutes to mix together the streusel-like topping and pop the whole thing into the oven. Let it cook while you eat dinner and it will be ready and waiting for you just in time for dessert.

That was the plan anyway. It turns out that unlike apple crumble – which is amazing when eaten warm and bubbling straight from the oven – warm pears aren’t so great. Eaten warm, this crumble was kind of meh. Not bad, but I almost threw the rest of it out. I’m glad I didn’t though! I took one last nibble (just to check) after it had cooled off for a few hours and the next thing I knew I had eaten about a quarter of it straight from the pan. It was even better the next morning after it has been refrigerated all night.

This pear and almond crumble has a much more delicate than traditional apple crumble, so instead of cinnamon I used cardamom, which is less assertive and has a slightly floral flavor that pairs nicely with almonds. Don’t be tempted to use whole wheat (or even white whole wheat) flour in this recipe – although you can get away with it in an apple crumble, the flavor is too overpowering with the pears.

Pear and Almond Crumble

Yield: 6

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

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Ingredients

• 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons Gold Medal® all purpose flour, divided
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds
• 1/2 cup (packed) brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 4 tablespoons coconut oil
• 4 Bartlett pears, peeled and cut into thin wedges
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon almond extract

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 450ºF.
2. In a small bowl (or right in your measuring cup) combine 1/2 cup flour, oats, almonds, brown sugar, cardamom, and salt. Mix well.
3. Melt the butter and coconut oil in a 9-inch skillet set over medium heat. Swirl around to coat the bottom of the pan, then pour into the dry ingredients. Mix until the topping is moistened ad crumbly.
4. Return the skillet to the stove and add the pears, 1 tablespoon sugar and almond extract. Cook over low heat until the pears soften and begin to release liquid, 5-7 minutes. Stir in reserved 2 tablespoons of flour.
5. Spread the crumb topping evenly over the pears. Transfer the pan to the oven and bake 25 minutes, or until the topping is crisp.
6. Let cool. Serve with vanilla yogurt for breakfast or vanilla bean ice cream for dessert.

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