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This Pear and Blueberry Crumble is a simple fruit-based dessert made by combining diced pears with blueberries and topping it off with a hearty and crunchy oat topping.
There are so many reasons why I like to make crumbles. They’re delicious, easy to make, fuss-free and are adaptable depending on the fruit in season. With so many fruit options and combinations of fruit you can choose from, you can make a different crumble every weekend if you wanted to. But what I look forward to the most in a crumble is the topping that covers the fruit. There are many possibilities, while some prefer to make the topping using only flour, butter and sugar, others will add oats. My preference is to include oats, as it makes the dessert heartier, healthier and adds more texture to the topping. Served warm, crumbles are an excellent choice for a comforting dessert in cooler weather.
Did you know that you can freeze the crumble topping? So if you make this crumble consider doubling the topping ingredients. Next time you’ll feel like making a crumble, all you’ll need to do is defrost the topping and prepare your filling. Crumbles are also great if you need a gluten-free dessert, just replace the wheat flour with almond flour in the topping and use cornstarch instead of flour in the fruit filling. Another thing I like to do is add some chopped nuts to the topping, it adds even more crunch and texture to the crumble. My favourite with this Pear and Blueberry Crumble are hazelnuts, just add in one-third to half a cup of toasted, skinned and chopped hazelnuts to the crumble mixture before topping and baking the fruit crumble.
My absolute favourite way to serve a crumble is warm with a scoop of ice cream. Depending on the fruit you use, you may find that there is lots of sauce at the bottom of the dish, this is normal if you don’t wait long enough before digging in, as I did when I shot the pictures for this Pear and Blueberry Crumble. If this happens, you can always drizzle the warm sauce over the ice cream, yum!
Ingredients
Crumble Topping
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour use almond flour for gluten-free
- 1/4 cup brown sugar packed
- 5 tbsp. unsalted butter room temperature
- 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp. salt
Pear and Blueberry Filling
- 3 cups pear peeled and diced
- 3 cups blueberries washed and picked
- 3 tbsp. granulated sugar add more if fruit isn't very sweet
- 2 tbsp. unbleached all-purpose flour use cornstarch for gluten-free
- 2 tsp. lemon juice freshly squeezed
- 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
Instructions
- With the rack in the middle position, preheat the oven to 375 °F. Lightly coat a 9x9 inch (or similar in size) baking dish with butter and set aside.
Crumble Topping
- In a medium bowl, combine the oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt and butter. Using your fingers, rub the softened butter into the ingredients until evenly distributed. Set aside.
Pear and Blueberry Filling
- In a medium bowl, combine the peeled and diced pear, the blueberries, the granulated sugar, all purpose-flour, lemon juice and cinnamon. Mix well.
- Add the fruit mixture to your baking dish and spread it evenly. Evenly top the fruit with the crumble topping.
- Bake in the oven for approximately 45 to 55 minutes or until the fruit is bubbling around the edges and the top is golden brown and crisp.
- Remove from the oven and let cool at least 15 minutes before serving.
- Optional: Serve the crumble with your ice cream of choice or whipped cream.
Notes
Nutrition
More delicious blueberry desserts:
Blueberry Almond Crumble Galette
Blueberry Jam and Hazelnut Bars
Pears and blueberries, now that is a nice combination. I’m with you about crumble topping…the more texture the better.
Thanks Karen! Yes, nuts are great for adding texture, taste and nutrition!
This sounds lovely, I must try to make it
Thank you Claire, it’s one of my go to desserts when I need something delicious, quick and comforting!
Yum! This crumble looks amazing!
Thanks Amanda, I’m sure you would love this!