Caramel Pear Crumble

 This has been an exceptionally good year for pears.  Even the little pear tree growing in a pot produced a crop of eleven pears, so we have loads to enjoy.

The thing about pears is they are devils to ripen.  One day they are hard as bullets, the next day they have over ripened and gone to mush.  Using them in a crumble is one way to utilise those middle of the road fruits.   So today I picked out four nearly ripe pears and made this....

CARAMEL PEAR CRUMBLE

Begin by heating the oven to 180C or 350F.   Butter a baking dish and set it aside while you prepare the filling:

3 or 4 pears, peeled, cored, and cut into small chunks

80 grams butter or baking margarine

80 grams soft brown sugar

pinch of salt

2 Tablespoons plain flour

Place the prepared pears into the baking dish.  Sprinkle over the flour and stir to coat the pears.

In a small sauce pan, melt the butter, add the brown sugar and salt.  Bring to a boil and cooked for about a minute.  Turn off the heat and leave it to cool for a few minutes while you measure out the crumble topping ingredients. 

100 grams oats

100 grams plain flour

100 grams white sugar

100 grams butter or baking margarine

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Put the oats, flour, sugar, and cinnamon into a mixing bowl.  Stir to combine.  Add the butter and rub it into the dry ingredients until they look like rough bread crumbs.  Set aside while you finish the filling.

Pour the caramel mixture over the pears in the baking dish.  Gently stir to coat the fruit.   Sprinkle over the crumble topping and bake for about 30 minutes or until the topping is a light golden brown and thick juices ooze around the edges of the dish....  like this...

Serve warm (or cold) with ice cream, cream, custard, or just on its own.  Leftovers make a naughty but nice breakfast... just saying.