This easy pear crumble recipe is a delicious, comforting dessert that only requires a handful of simple ingredients to make! Just assemble, bake, and enjoy with whipped cream, berry cheesecake ice cream, or on its own!
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I can't make a crumble without singing along to the Crumble Song from Britain's Got Talent (you have to look it up on YouTube if you haven't heard it). That song represents everything I love about pear crumble - it's wholesome, comforting, brings people together, and is something everyone can be good at making!
So what exactly is a pear crumble? Well, it's more or less what we Americans would call a "pear crisp", but the term "crumble" is more widely used in the UK. In other words, it's a dessert that features deliciously spiced pears that melt in your mouth, finished off with a heap of crispy, crunchy streusel topping!
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😍 Why You'll Love This Recipe
- This easy pear crumble recipe only requires a handful of ingredients you probably already have at home.
- Pear crumble is a great recipe for anyone new to baking because it's so easy to make!
- This is the perfect easy dessert to bring to potlucks and family gatherings or to accompany dinner on holidays like Thanksgiving or Christmas.
- Pear crumble has all the same flavors you'd expect in a pie, but requires much less time and effort!
- You can easily customize this recipe to your personal preference by mixing in other fruits, spices, and/or syrups.
🔖 Ingredients & Substitutions
- Pears: Bosc, Anjou, and Bartlett pears will all work for this recipe. Pears should be ripe, but firm.
- Rolled oats: Do not substitute, as quick oats or steel-cut oats won't yield the right texture.
- Lemon juice: Use fresh or bottled lemon juice. You can also add a teaspoon of vanilla extract if you'd like!
- Brown sugar: Brown sugar yields the best flavor, but you can also use granulated or coconut sugar.
- Butter: Unsalted. If you only have salted, omit the salt in step 2. For a vegan alternative, you can use vegan butter or solidified coconut oil, though the resulting texture might not be as crispy.
- Spices: I use cinnamon and nutmeg but you can also use ground ginger, ground cardamom, cloves, etc.
- Dried blackcurrants: You can also use raisins or craisins, or omit.
- Toffee cashews: You can also use praline pecans, walnuts, almonds, or plain cashews.
- Optional toppings: Prickly pear syrup, vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, etc.
*See recipe card for a complete list of ingredients.
🍐 How To Make Pear Crumble
Preheat oven to 350°F
Step 1: Generously coat the edges of an 8x8 baking dish with butter and set aside. Cut the remaining butter into cubes.
Step 2: Prepare crumb topping by whisking together flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and chopped cashews. Add cold butter cubes and use your hands to incorporate into dry ingredients until the texture resembles coarse crumbles.
Pro Tip: Try not to overwork the crumble topping! Having some larger chunks of butter in the mix will create steam pockets when baking, which will help the topping get crispy.
Step 3: Peel pears (optional), then slice into thin slices or cubes. Place in a large bowl and toss with lemon juice, sugar, flour, blackcurrants, and spices until pears are evenly coated.
Pro Tip: If you don't have enough pears, you can mix in apples, peaches, rhubarb, plums, etc.
Step 4: Spread pears evenly in baking dish, then top with crumble mixture. Bake uncovered for 35-45 minutes or until the pears are beginning to bubble around the edges and the topping is golden brown and crisp.
Step 5: Allow pear crisp to cool 5-10 minutes before serving. This will allow the topping to firm up and become crispier.
🍯 Topping Ideas
You can enjoy this easy pear crumble recipe as-is, or get creative with toppings such as:
- A scoop of vanilla ice cream
- Whipped cream
- More chopped nuts
- This decadent salted caramel sauce
- Lavender Syrup
- Chokecherry syrup
- Fig syrup
🥧 More Pear Recipes
If you have any leftover pears and aren't sure what to do with them, here are some ideas!
- Pear pie
- Pear muffins
- Pear apple jam & preserves
- Pear & arugula goat cheese salad
- Pear puff pastry tart
- Small batch pear jam
- Orange and saffron poached pears
🤷🏻♀️ Recipe FAQs
The secret to a good crumble is ensuring a crispy, crunchy texture. This can be achieved in a number of ways, such as using cold butter and leaving in some larger chunks in the mixture, which helps create steam pockets, or even baking the crumb topping separately from the fruit filling.
A crumble and a crisp are more or less the same, the main difference being that a crisp always includes oats, whereas a crumble sometimes omits them. The two terms can be used interchangeably, though "crumble" is more common in the UK, while "crisp" is more widely used in the US.
👩🏼🍳 Pro Tips
- You can use a pastry cutter or a fork when mixing the crumble topping, but I find that using your hands works best!
- All ovens are different, so you may need to adjust the baking time.
- Always bake your pear crumble uncovered, as covering it traps in moisture and it won't become crispy!
- Crumble is crispiest when fresh out of the oven, so I don't recommend making this one in advance!
- Store pear crumble in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- Reheat pear crisp in the oven for 20 minutes at 350° F. If reheating from frozen, allow it to defrost in the fridge overnight before baking.
🍎 Related Recipes
If you enjoy this pear crumble recipe, check out these other related recipes!
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Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Generously coat the edges of an 8x8 baking dish with butter and set aside. Cut the remaining butter into cubes.
- Prepare crumb topping by whisking together flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and chopped cashews. Add cold butter cubes and use your hands to incorporate into dry ingredients until the texture resembles coarse crumbles.
- Peel pears (optional), then slice into thin slices or cubes. Place in a large bowl and toss with lemon juice, sugar, flour, blackcurrants, and spices until pears are evenly coated.
- Spread pears evenly in baking dish, then top with crumble mixture. Bake uncovered for 35-45 minutes or until the pears are beginning to bubble around the edges and the topping is golden brown and crisp.
- Allow pear crisp to cool 5-10 minutes before serving. This will allow topping to firm up and become crispier.
Nutrition
Notes
- Try not to overwork the crumble topping! Having some larger chunks of butter in the mix will create steam pockets when baking, which will help the topping get crispy.
- If you don't have enough pears, you can mix in apples, peaches, rhubarb, plums, etc.
- You can use a pastry cutter or a fork when mixing the crumble topping, but I find that using your hands works best!
- All ovens are different so you may need to adjust the baking time.
- Always bake crumble uncovered, as covering it traps in moisture and it won't become crispy!
- Crumble is crispiest when fresh out of the oven, so I don't recommend making this one in advance!
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- Reheat pear crisp in oven for 20 minutes at 350° F. If reheating from frozen, allow it to defrost in the fridge overnight before baking.
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