Pear Crumble Recipe: How to Make a Pear Crumble

A pear crumble is a simple dessert consisting of a baked pear filling topped with a buttery oat streusel. Pears offer a clean, neutral flavor with just the right amount of sweetness, and their flesh doesn’t break down too much when cooked. You can customize your pear crumble in myriad ways, but it almost always contains a few staple ingredients, like brown sugar, butter, and cinnamon. Any pear variety works, but some of the best types of pears for this dish are Bartlett and Bosc.

Crumbles, crisps, and cobblers are all baked summer desserts with fruity fillings and starchy toppings, but they are slightly different.

• Crumble: Sometimes called a crisp, a crumble is a baked fruit dessert with a streusel (made of butter, flour, and sugar) topping. A crisp topping usually contains oats, while a crumble topping is more of a classic streusel topping. However, many desserts don’t abide by those rules, often incorporating oats into crumbles for more texture.
• Crisp: Fruit crisps have a golden-brown streusel crumble topping made of butter, brown sugar, oats, and flour. Both the fruit and the topping tend to have a slight “crispness,” allowing them to pair with the silky texture of a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Try this pear crisp recipe.
• Cobbler: Fruit cobblers is a freeform dessert with a fruit base and biscuit topping. The name “cobbler” comes from the shape of the biscuit dough dropped in dollops onto the fruit, which puffs up to look like cobblestone streets. The old-fashioned name matches the old-fashioned fruit dessert, which dates back to the nineteenth century. Learn how to make a pear cobbler.

A crumble is an easy way to transform fresh pears into dessert when you don’t have the time for a pie or galette. Read ahead to learn about ways to enhance your crumble:

1. 1. Add warming spices to the topping. Add cardamom, nutmeg, mace, allspice, cloves, or ginger to your crumble topping for a warming winter treat. Increase the crunch by adding nuts to the topping: Chopped pecans, walnuts, and almonds work well.
2. 2. Drizzle with caramel sauce. Use a store-bought or homemade salted caramel sauce to add more sweetness and a hint of salt to a pear crumble. Adding salt to desserts brings out the natural sweetness of the ingredients while also balancing out the sugars.
3. 3. Go gluten-free. Omit regular flour and use a gluten-free alternative so that everyone can enjoy this dessert option. Since this dessert doesn’t involve rising, you won’t miss the gluten in the wheat flour.
4. 4. Incorporate other fruits. To deepen and diversify the flavor profile, add other fall fruits, such as apples, cranberries, or persimmons, which will release their sweet juices and combine to make a memorable treat.
5. 5. Serve with whipped cream. A pear crumble pairs well with sweet and soft whipped cream. Combine heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Whip the cream until soft peaks form, and then serve it atop your crisp.
6. 6. Top with vanilla ice cream. A classic pairing for a fruit crumble is vanilla ice cream. It’s sweet, creamy, and cold, contrasting with the crumble’s warmth. As the ice cream melts over the topping, it creates a sauce.