Pear and Almond Crumble, seasoned with a pinch a cardamom, is a unique and delicious alternative to apple crisp. With a dollop of yogurt, it’s perfect for breakfast; with vanilla bean ice cream, it makes a wonderful dessert.

It’s been years and years since I’ve had a crumble or crisp, but once I got the idea of pear crumble into my head well… you can see what happened. (I don’t know why, but I’m all about pears this fall. Anyone else?) I actually forgot how easy crumbles are to make: it takes less than 10 minutes to mix together the streusel-like topping and pop the whole thing into the oven. Let it cook while you eat dinner and it will be ready and waiting for you just in time for dessert.

That was the plan anyway. It turns out that unlike apple crumble – which is amazing when eaten warm and bubbling straight from the oven – warm pears aren’t so great. Eaten warm, this crumble was kind of meh. Not bad, but I almost threw the rest of it out. I’m glad I didn’t though! I took one last nibble (just to check) after it had cooled off for a few hours and the next thing I knew I had eaten about a quarter of it straight from the pan. It was even better the next morning after it has been refrigerated all night.

This pear and almond crumble has a much more delicate than traditional apple crumble, so instead of cinnamon I used cardamom, which is less assertive and has a slightly floral flavor that pairs nicely with almonds. Don’t be tempted to use whole wheat (or even white whole wheat) flour in this recipe – although you can get away with it in an apple crumble, the flavor is too overpowering with the pears.

  

Disclosure: This post was brought to you in partnership with Gold Medal Flour. I was paid to create this recipe for them. All opinions are my own.

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