This was a fabulous dessert that I made the other week. You all know that I have a surplus of pears this fall. And many were blown off of the tree last month in some terrific windstorms we had. So, to use them up, even the ones which were a bit bruised, has been my mission.
I offer this recipe to you, as an alternative use for pears in your menus. It was very delicious, and warming on an early autumn day.
Fruit filling
4 cups of chopped, firm pears (save those very ripe pears for pear butter or sauce)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch ground cloves
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons flour
Crisp topping
6 tablespoons soft, butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger (just how ginger-y do you like your gingerbread/cake?)
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2/3 cup oats
2/3 cup flour
Bake at 375 degrees F, for 40-45 minutes in a buttered 9 X 9 baking dish, until the topping is a deep, golden brown.
Combine all of the fruit filling ingredients in a large bowl. Dump into the buttered baking dish. Use the very same bowl/spoon (don't bother rinsing or washing it out), and combine the crisp topping ingredients. Spread the topping evenly over the fruit filling. (If your butter is refrigerator hard, soften it in the bowl, in the microwave for 10 seconds.)
I like to use real butter in the topping mix. It really does add flavor that margarine or oil just wouldn't have. Baking or cooking butter caramelizes the solids (small amounts of protein and sugar from the milk/cream used to make the butter). This caramelization produces an almost nutty flavor in the butter.
Pears have a lot of natural sugar to them, and little acidity. So I find I don't need to add much extra sugar to the fruit portion of this dessert, but do like a little tartness from the lemon juice. You could also use a drizzle of honey, in place of the brown sugar, if desired. (And as it only calls for 1/4 cup of brown sugar in the fruit part, it would not be costly to sub in honey.) No brown sugar? I don't keep any at home either, but just use a scant amount of white sugar, along with a spoonful of molasses.
If you have a couple of apples that need baking (I had 2 apples that looked a bit "rough", and wanted to use them up), go ahead and add them, chopped, to the pears.
After mixing up the topping, taste it, to see if you need a bit more spice. And as I like to think, "tasting" doesn't really have any calories -- the act of mixing burns them clean off. Ha! Like eating celery, right? Chewing burns off the calories.
My husband really loves the crisp topping on this. And I have to admit, it is very yummy! Like crispy oatmeal cookies baked on top of the fruit.
I'm curious -- I like pears with ginger, are there any fruits that, in your mind, go well with ginger?
