Kids Cuisine

We adore pears in our household — they’re easily one of our favorite fruits — and we all agree on that point.  We’ve also been fortunate the past few years to have an abundance of pears at our disposal, and while we do tend to eat most of them out-of-hand, sometimes we really just need to do something with them before they become too mushy.

We’ve run the gamut on “pear alternatives” including pies, muffins, tarts, cakes, sauce, and chutney, but our new favorite has got to be the Pear Crumble.  We tend to eat a lot of crumbles as different fruits come into season.  Crumbles are very easy, and pretty crowd friendly — not to mention they double and triple in size with very little extra effort. I’ve been playing around with different crumble toppings for years, always looking for the best one, and I daresay, I’ve found our family’s favorite.  As today is the first day of school in our town, this will also be a very welcome after-school treat for our third-grader.

Pear Crumble

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 stick of chilled butter (1/2 cup)
• 4 or 5 pears, peeled, cored, and sliced
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350ºF.  Spray a 9-inch baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.

In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt.  Mix well.  Using a pastry blender or a pair of knives, cut the butter into the flour mixture until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Stir in the walnuts, set aside.

In a small bowl, combine the sliced pears, cornstarch, sugar and cinnamon; toss to combine.  Pour the pears into the prepared baking dish, spreading evenly to the edges.  Gently pour the crumb topping over the pears, spreading the mixture out to the edges.

Bake at 350º for 50-60 minutes or until the filling is bubbly and the topping is golden brown.  Can be served warm, at room temperature, or cold.