Pear and Dark Chocolate Crumble
It was great being able to have my husband home last week for Mikey’s birthday, I know that Mikey enjoyed having his daddy around all the time and didn’t want him to go back to work on Monday. We were able to spend a lot of precious time as a family, an unusual treat when he normally works quite long hours and can disappear on TDY around Europe for weeks at a time.
Speaking of which, my husband bought me a new house plant last weekend, to replace the one that he managed to kill while I was visiting my family in England last month. Isn’t it gorgeous?
But you’re here for the food today, right?
I bought some pears from the farmers market last week, they’ve been sitting in my kitchen waiting to ripen so that I could use them to make something delicious. There’s something quite comforting about baked autumn fruits I think, and I was considering baking some sort of apple pie last weekend to compliment the somewhat dreary weather, but the pears just called out to me from their bowl in the kitchen. I know that pears and chocolate may seem like an unusual combination, but I’m afraid you’re really just going to have to trust me on this one.
Pear and Dark Chocolate Crumble
8 pears, peeled, cored and cubed
grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
4oz good dark chocolate (I used Lindt 70%) roughly chopped
for the crumble
1 1/2 stick butter, chilled and diced
1 1/4 cups organic, unbleached all purpose flour
1 cup old fashioned oats
1 cup raw demerara sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
Preheat the oven to 350F. Place the pears, lemon zest and juice, and around 1/4 cup water into a large pan and heat gently for 10 minutes or so, until the pears are tender.
Meanwhile, with your fingers, rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the oats, sugar and ginger and stir through.
Spoon the pears, with a little of the juice, into an ovenproof dish. Scatter the chocolate over the top and then the crumble mixture. If you are worried about the crumble spilling out while it is bubbling away in the oven, you can place the dish on top of a baking sheet.
Bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden.
Serve warm, with vanilla ice cream. Or, if you like, you can bring the pear juice to a boil and reduce it by half. Chill the crumble and serve it with extra thick cream and the reduced pear juice. I had mine with the ice cream, though, and it was wonderful.
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Tasty Tuesdays at A Beautiful Mess
a British expat living in Chicago with my husband and our 4 year old son. I love to take 
Yum! This looks soooo good, I’m going on a pear hunt today!
Where was this recipe when I needed it last week before my pears went mouldy?? Although I am trying to diet, and seem to be the only one who eats what has been my almost weekly crumble over the Winter months, I am DEFINITELY going to give this one a go, sounds divine!
you’re making this whole vegan thing hard. but i subscribed to torture myself. and because you’re photographs are absolutely gorgeous.
ericka @ alabaster cow´s last post ..i’m going to h-e-double hockey sticks
Vegan?! You’re a much much stronger lady than I.
and thank you
Satakieli´s last post ..Pear and Dark Chocolate Crumble
Pears and chocolate are a perfect combination to me! Yum!
I think pears and chocolate sound wonderful – as does your recipe. Delicious!
Wow that sounds great! Yum yum, must try it!
Oh my. This looks and sounds absolutely divine! Thanks for the inspiration!! So glad you linked up to tasty tuesdays.
Alicia´s last post ..Wordless Wednesday Linky Party- Look Around
First, Happy Belated Birthday, Mikey!
Hope you had a fun birthday, big guy!
Second, that looks mighty delicious. Slurrrp!
Maureen´s last post ..When Indonesian &38 French Collided
just logged onto your blog after you kindly asked me to be your contact on flickr, what a fantastic blog you have, beautiful photographs, great recipes and great journals!
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