Easy Fresh Pear Dessert with Vanilla Ice Cream
This easy fresh pear dessert with vanilla ice cream is sure to be a hit at your next holiday get-together!
Pear desserts are surprisingly easy. I don’t know why I feel like they are hard. I guess it’s because they all look so fancy, but I love simple, fancy, and delicious!
I think every pear dessert story starts with “I bought too many pears and they were going to go bad”. I have the same story. LOL
When we went apple picking two weeks ago I ended up with two bags of freshly picked pears and we ate two or three of them on the way home.
You can see my How To Make Easy Homemade Applesauce in Less Than 30 Minutes recipe here!
Now two weeks later I have about 10 or 12 pears left and I want to bake them before they get too soft!
I read through Pinterest for several recipes and took a few ideas from each of them to come up with this easy fresh pear dessert of my own.
I am adding french vanilla bean ice cream, but next time I will add my homemade whipping cream!
I want to welcome you this week to our very first Fabulous Friday Features Blog Hop. We are sharing twelve Christmas Entertaining Ideas and Inspiration with you.
The Fabulous Friday Link Party is a fun event that takes place every Friday here on my blog and talented bloggers share all kinds of fabulous recipes and home decor and inspiration there. It’s like a virtual magazine for home and recipes.
We have six hosts and the six of us each extended an invitation to a blogger who has regularly shared on our link party and been chosen as a feature.
All I can say is WOW what a talented bunch of ladies! I am so honored to be a part of today’s Christmas entertaining inspiration!
I have made it easy for you to click right to their posts at the bottom of this page, including images, and from their post (at the bottom) you can click through to the next!
I told you we’ve made it easy for you!
Okay, okay now, pear desserts… To crisp or to Crumble?
Pear Crisp vs Pear Crumble?
Today we are making a pear crisp dessert. The difference as far as I can see in my research is a crisp is more crunchy with nuts and oats added and a crumble is softer with more of a simple crust-like consistency.
Give me all the pecans right now!
Total side note, at the apple orchard a few weeks ago the owner let us know that the freeze that happened here in Missouri/Kansas in October hurt the pecan harvest substantially so I am going this weekend (the first available time) to pick up fresh pecans as the crop was nearly wiped out.
You can keep pecans frozen for a long time so stock up if you are in the midwest and have a pecan harvest nearby!
Can I use Canned Pears In this recipe?
No. They are already too soft and you need to start with a crisp sturdy pear Otherwise it would be mush and the flavor would dissipate.
Can I replace pears with apples in this recipe?
No again, apples need a little longer to bake and you will want to incorporate cold cubed butter in an apple crisp instead of the melted butter that we are using today!
Should I peel Pears for Pear Crisp?
Yes. You must peel the pears. The peeling of pears is harder to break down and it will be a very unpleasant texture and could alter the taste of the pear crisp as well.
Easy Fresh Pear Dessert Ingredients
Pear Crisp Filling
- 8-10 Ripe sturdy pears
- 1/4 cup Sugar
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- Spices
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- salt
- Dash of Fresh Ginger (Optional)
Pear Crisp Topping
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup oats quick or old fashioned
- 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 8 tablespoons melted preferably unsalted butter (use real butter and not margarine)
- 1/8 teaspoon salt (omit if you use salted butter)
- 1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon
How to Make Pear Crisp Dessert
Be Prepared to have your mind blown by how easy this is to make!
- Make Your Crisp Topping
Combine all of the crisp topping ingredients into one large bowl minus the melted butter.
Mix until blended. You can use your food processor if you want it to be finer consistency.
- Add Melted Butter
Pour your melted butter over the topping mixture and stir until everything is coated.
- Combine Pear filling ingredients
Whisk the granulated sugar, lemon juice, cornstarch, vanilla extract, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a large bowl.
This will be thicker but will thin when the pears are added. -
- Peel and slice pears
To make sure the pears stay as fresh as possible, peel and slice them as you are ready to add them to the filling mixture.
Do make sure that your pears are at room temperature and not fresh out of the refrigerator.
I prefer larger chunks to small diced pieces. Also, they will hold their shape while baking.
Add them to the mixture and stir together to make sure every pear is coated. - Assemble
Transfer the pear mixture into a buttered 8×8 pan.
Evenly spread the topping mixture over the top of the pears. -
-
- Bake
Bake at 425 degrees for 25 minutes and the fruit is bubbling and the topping is golden brown.
Rotate the pan at 15 minutes. - Remove from oven
Remove from the oven and let cool for at least 15 minutes.
- Serve
Serve warm with a heaping scoop of vanilla bean ice cream or homemade whipped cream!
You can add some nice additional flavors to this classic dish. I think adding homemade caramel over the top would be amazing! I only wish I had thought of it when I was baking this!
Oh my heavens to Betsy! It’s so good and Gigi approved!
Is there anything better than a fresh fruit dessert that takes 20 minutes to make?!?!?
This looks and sounds so delicious Amy! I feel like pears are an underrated fruit, yet they are so delicious! Pinned!
This looks so delicious! I am definitely going to make this recipe soon! Thanks for sharing it!
This pear dessert looks amazing, Amy, and I can’t get over how easy it is to make too! We have a pear tree at the farm so I’m super excited to try your recipe. I never know what to do with them all. Especially, when we have a bumper crop so this will be the perfect solution. Thanks so much for putting this hop together. Big hugs, CoCo
Yum! This sounds amazing!
Amy,
This sounds so delicious. I love pears but rarely use them in recipes. I’ve pinned.
Hi Amy! Your pear dessert looks delicious! Crumble toppings are my favorite! Pinning it so I can try this sometime! Thanks for sharing!
I am a huge fan of apple crisp so I am super excited to try this pear crisp. Of course, you had me at “pecans!” I have learned to freeze pecans when I can. Can’t wait to try this! Thanks for including me in the blog hop. So much fun! ~Missy
This looks and sounds so delicious Amy. I will have to try it since I love pears. It is always fun to hop with you.
This looks delicious, Amy! I’m going to have to give it a try!! Thanks for sharing!
Looks yummy!!!!