Pear and Apple Crumble

A couple of weeks ago Claire discovered the pear tree in our back yard.  We usually don’t venture out to the tree; it’s much too far from the sandbox, ha-ha.  But, she found it and thought it was really neat that she could help herself to a snack whenever she wanted.  I never eat or cook with the pears from the back yard.  I don’t know what variety they are since the tree was part of the landscape when we bought the house, but I find them to be very bitter.

Here are some pictures of Claire enjoying the pear tree.  You can see they must be tart, but she insists on snacking on them anyway….I guess it is a healthy snackJ  Now that the summer is winding down the pears are beginning to fall on the ground and bees are in them L  It’s been quite a challenge to keep Claire away from the pear tree lately!

Pears are one of my favorite fruits to eat during summer!   Next summer I am going to attempt to do some cooking with the pears in from our back yard.  As this summer starts the change to fall I was looking for a recipe that included pears but would get us in the mood fall weather.  This is what I found and it is really yummy!

Ingredients:

1 c. flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. apple pie spice

½ c. cold unsalted butter

3 tbsp. sugar

3 tbsp. brown sugar

3 Gala apples, peeled

3 pears, peeled

2 tbsp. butter

2 tbsp. sugar

¼ c. lemon juice

2 tbsp. corn starch

½ tsp. cinnamon

Instructions:

·         Mix flour, baking powder, and apple pie spice.  Cut in ½ c. butter, until mixture resembles rolled oats.  Set aside.

·         Cut pears and apples in 8 pieces each.  Heat 2 tbsp. butter, 2 tbsp. sugar, 2 tbsp. lemon juice over medium heat until butter melts; stir in apples.  Cook 5 minutes.  Add pears; cook 1-2 minutes.

·         Mix remaining lemon juice, cornstarch and cinnamon; add to fruit.  Cook 2-3 minutes until thickened.

·         Spoon mixture into greased deep dish pie plate.  Sprinkle with topping.

·         Cook on cookie sheet for 35- 40 minutes at 375.

·         Serve warm or cool.  We found it best warm with ice cream and homemade caramel topping J