Meet the drool-worthy cardamom-spiced pear crumble – an easy, stress-free dessert that’s a hit with the whole family and perfect for fall and winter – especially during the holiday season. Made with seasonal fresh pears, warming spices, and adorned with handfuls of sweet crumble topping, it’s the epitome of a comforting fall dessert.
Jump to:
- What makes this cardamom-spiced pear crumble the perfect sweater weather dessert?
- What You’ll Need for This Easy Pear Crumble Recipe
- Let’s Make it!
- Tips for Making The BEST Spiced Pear Crumble
- To Peel or To Not Peel Pears?
- How To Serve Cardamom-Spiced Pear Crumble
- How to Store
- More Great Fall Recipes
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- 📖 Recipe
What makes this cardamom-spiced pear crumble the perfect sweater weather dessert?
Crumbles, crisps, cobblers… I’m a fan, and I couldn’t help but share this warm, comforting dessert recipe for you to try with your entire family. There’s just something about throwing together an easy dessert in a skillet or a single pan and being able to indulge in a satisfying dessert with your favorite toppings like a big scoop of vanilla ice cream, homemade whipped cream, or dreamy custard sauce.
What You’ll Need for This Easy Pear Crumble Recipe
In this simple dessert recipe, we have two key components: the luscious filling of seasonal pears, and the delectable cardamom-spiced topping.
Cinnamon Vanilla Pear Mixture
- Ripe Pears: Offers a sweet and crisp texture to the fruit filling. The best pears for this recipe are ripe Bartlett pears (pictured here) or Bosc pears, but feel free to experiment with any kind of pears: Anjou, Forelle, or Concorde pears. (And of course you can swap for almost any kind of fruit!)
- Granulated white sugar: Sweetens and enhances the fruity filling.
- Ground cinnamon: Adds warm and aromatic fall flavor to the filling.
- Vanilla extract: Enhances the overall depth and aroma of the filling.
- Lemon juice: Adds a little zing to what is otherwise a very sweet dish.
- Corn starch: Helps thicken the juices from the pears to create a nice thick, syrupy sauce.
Cardamom-Spiced Crumble Topping
- All-purpose flour: Combines with other ingredients to form a crisp topping.
- Brown sugar: Sweetens and enhances the buttery topping.
- Granulated Sugar: Sweetens and caramelizes the topping.
- Spices: Cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and a wee bit of all spice infuse the topping with a warm and aromatic touch.
- Melted butter: Binds the topping ingredients, creating a crispy, buttery layer.
Let’s Make it!
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Peel, core, quarter, slice, and dice the pears (7 cups) into bite-size chunks and add to a large mixing bowl along with the ½ cup sugar, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 1 ½ tablespoons fresh lemon juice and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, making sure to toss to coat. Pile the pear mixture into an 8×8 baking dish and sprinkle.
- In a medium bowl (microwave safe), melt the 7 tablespoons of butter
- Use a pastry cutter or fork to combine the butter, sugar and flour until it’s crumbly. Evenly pile the topping over the pears.
- Bake for 55-60 minutes until the top is golden brown and the pears are soft.
- Remove from the oven and let sit for 10 minutes. Serve with big, comforting scoops of vanilla bean ice cream.
Tips for Making The BEST Spiced Pear Crumble
Here are my tips for making sure this homemade spiced pear crisp comes out perfectly:
- For the sweet pear filling, cut the pears into similar-sized chunks so they cook evenly. If they’re cut too small, the filling may turn to mush. Peeling is optional, but if you are sensitive to textures, peel those pears!
- I recommend greasing the baking dish so your crisp is easy to serve and cleaning up is no big deal.
- You can make the buttery crumble for the top of your crisp with a pastry blender or with a big fork or a food processor. The key is to make a ‘crumbly’ mixture. You want some larger pieces and some smaller ones.
- Be sure to let the crisp cool for a few minutes – at least 10 – before serving. This helps the crisp cool and absorb some of the excess fruit juices in the baking dish
- Chopped nuts like pecans or walnuts would be a delicious addition to the topping! I can and do do that sometimes.
To Peel or To Not Peel Pears?
It is entirely up to you! I’ve made this simple recipe both ways and enjoy them both. I usually make this Cardamom-Spiced Pear Crumble for my family, and I know some kids won’t eat pear desserts with the skins on, so if that sounds familiar, peel away! If you do choose to leave the skins on, make sure to wash the pears thoroughly!
How To Serve Cardamom-Spiced Pear Crumble
While this delicious pear crisp stands tall and proud all on its own, it would almost be a bit rude not to enjoy it with a big, comforting scoop of ice cream, a dollop of silky whipped cream, or even a drizzle of creme anglaise (if you’re feeling fancy.).
And to make it a truly fall dessert, don’t forget to cozy up with a cup of hot apple cider.
How to Store
This recipe will be good for 2-4 days kept in the refrigerator covered in plastic wrap.
To freeze, cover with aluminum foil and freeze for up to 3 months. When ready to bake, let thaw completely overnight and bake, covered, at 350 degrees F for 15-20 minutes.
More Great Fall Recipes
📖 Recipe
Cardamom-Spiced Pear Crumble
Ingredients
Cardamom-Spiced Crumble Topping
- 1¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon cardamom freshly ground is best
- ½ teaspoon Cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon Nutmeg
- ⅛ tsp. All spice
- ⅓ cup light brown sugar
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Pear Mixture
- 7 cups pear slices 6 or 7 pears, with skin or peeled
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 ½ tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Peel, core, quarter, slice, and dice the pears (7 cups) into bite-size chunks and add to a large mixing bowl along with the ½ cup sugar, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 1 ½ tablespoons fresh lemon juice and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, making sure to toss to coat. Pile the pear mixture into an 8×8 baking dish and sprinkle.
- In a medium bowl (microwave safe), melt the 7 tablespoons of butter.
- Use a pastry cutter or fork to combine the butter, sugar and flour until it’s crumbly. Evenly pile the topping over the pears.
- Bake for 55-60 minutes until the top is golden brown and the pears are soft.
- Remove from the oven and let sit for 10 minutes. Serve with big, comforting scoops of vanilla bean ice cream.
