Pear Crisp

I love making apple crisp when I’m in a hurry and I want an apple + cinnamon dessert.  It’s a great alternative to apple pie or apple tart.  However, apples are getting expensive here!  I also had some pears sitting around in the apartment for the past week, so I thought, why not make some pear crisp?  This was the very first time I tried baking with pears, and I definitely want to bake more with pears now!  Pears retain a lot of its water content during the baking process while absorbing the other flavors.  Where in comparison to apples, sometimes we get those pies where the apples get really runny and it’s just a huge watery mess!  Also, pears are generally less flavorful than apples, so it really presents itself as a clean palette for the cinnamon and nutmeg flavors.

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Ready in: 40 minutes
Serves: 8

Ingredients:
– 4 ripe pears
– 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
– 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
– 1/2 cup oats (quick-cooking or old-fashioned are fine)
– 1/3 melted butter
– 1 tsp cinnamon
– 1/2 tsp nutmeg

Method:
1. Pre-heat oven to 375ºF.  Coat an 8×8 pan with oil or baking spray.
2. Peel, core, and slice the pears into very thin slices.  Spread the pear slices on the bottom of the pan.
3. In a medium bowl, stir together the brown sugar, flour, oats, butter, cinnamon, and nutmeg with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon until mixture resembles crumbles.
4.  Crumble the mixture over the pears.  Bake for 30 minutes.