Several years ago my wife was walking around our five acres and discovered three pear trees covered with fruit. We ended up with a couple of bushels of pears. While I enjoy eating them, I don't like them that much.

My wife made a lot of delicious things from the pears, including a pear sauce she uses in some of her vegan dinners. She also made pear crisp, which helped me to get over my resistance to eating so many of them. It's a sneaky way to get the family to eat fruits and grains.

The Ingredients:

Pear Filling:

  • 4 large pears
  • 1/2 cup raw cane sugar
  • 1/8 tsp table salt
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon

Topping:

  • 3/4 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup steel-cut or regular oats
  • 1/4 cup raw cane sugar
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar (packed)
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 stick unsalted butter

The Magic:

  1. Peel, remove the core, and slice the pears into 1/4 inch pieces.
  2. Combine the pears and the rest of the filling ingredients in a large bowl. For a little extra juice, place in refrigerator for four hours.
  3. When the filling is finished, stage a middle rack and a top rack in the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. 
  4. Melt the stick of butter in a large bowl.
  5. Add in the rest of the topping ingredients, stirring until well mixed.
  6. Add the filling to an 8-inch square pan or Pyrex baking dish.
  7. Add the topping evenly over the fruit.
  8. Bake on the middle rack for 30 minutes.
  9. Move to top rack for ten minutes until the topping is slightly crispy.

Serve warm with a scoop of ice cream. I would recommend vanilla bean. Enjoy! I know I do.