Vanilla Poached Pear and Apple Crumble

The dessert group I joined a couple of months ago has a crumble due today and I apologize for being late.  I want to stay true to my Food Writer Fridays commitment so I posted that first.

The last thing the group made was Italian Cream Cake and I thought we needed to follow the recipe given to us by Claire of SimplySweetJustice.com but I was wrong.  Everyone else changed it up but me!

So, not to be outdone, I’ve come up with a really lovely pear and crumble with vanilla poached pears in it.  Folks, it was SO good!  If you love pears and apples and crumble, well this one is pretty spiffy.  It’s also really good with creme anglais poured over and a bit of vanilla bean ice cream.  (but what ISN’T better with custard and ice cream on it?)

I’ve been complaining that lately I’m always a day late and a dollar short but this is one thing I couldn’t wait to try.  I made this two weeks ago and liked it so much I made it again when we had a friend over for dinner.

I started by poaching the pears and I could give you the recipe but that would be stealing because I copied David Lebovitz’ recipe for poached pears right down to the baking paper cover.  I don’t think anyone can improve on his recipe or method.  When I poked the pears with the tip of a sharp knife and they were soft, it was time to put the crumble together.

I peeled and chopped 3 pears and 2 apples and added just a bit of water and cooked them for 5 minutes to get the fruit started.  Then I repeated the vanilla flavor by adding just a hint of vanilla extract and a tablespoon of caster or superfine sugar and mixed to combine.  I buttered a serving dish and placed the whole poached pears in the middle of the dish and then surrounded them with the pear and apple mixture.

My crumble topping is really easy to make but it does require blitzing macadamia nuts before adding flour, butter, a hint of vanilla paste and the oats.  I hope you try it! This could be your moment of glory. 

Yes, I know the recipe calls for 4 pears and there are only 3 in the photos.  Sorry.  There were only 3 of us for dinner so I only made 3.  That’s the great thing about cooking at home.  You make just what you want.

4.7 from 10 reviews

Vanilla Poached Pear and Apple Crumble

 

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This is an attractive dessert for family and friends.

Author: Maureen Shaw

Recipe type: Dessert

Cuisine: Australian

Serves: 4

Ingredients

Poached Pears

• 4 poached pears in vanilla syrup by David Lebovitz

Pear and Apple Crumble

• 3 pears
• 2 apples
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbs caster sugar (or more if your fruit is not sweet)

Crumble Topping

• ½ cup brown sugar
• ½ cup rolled oats
• ¼ cup macadamia nut meal
• ½ cup finely chopped macadamia nuts
• ¾ cup butter
• ¼ tsp vanilla paste

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180C/350F
2. Prepare poached pears according to David Lebovitz’ recipe but leave them whole.
3. Peel pears and apples and chop into a saucepan. Add just a spoonful of water and cook for about 5 minutes to start the cooking.
4. remove from heat and add sugar and vanilla and mix to combine.
5. Place poached pears in the middle of individual ramekins or an oven dish large enough for a crumble.
6. Add the pear and apple mixture around the pears.
7. Blitz the macadamia nuts for the nut meal and chop the remaining nuts finely
8. Mix the butter, brown sugar, vanilla paste and nut meal together til it looks like peas, then mix in the oats and chopped nuts.
9. Clump the mixture in your hands and break apart bits and spread over the pear and apples until well covered.
10. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

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Please check out the other folks making crumble this month.  It’s winter in Australia and crumble just makes my heart warmer.

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Tagged as: Crumble