An easy pear crumble with oats is the ultimate comfort-food. Spoon into its crispy topping with hazelnuts and get the gooey, dark chocolate juicy bliss of pears and apples underneath.
40g (1.5oz/¼ cup)soft light brown sugar(cane sugar)
Fruity Filling
10g (0.5oz)unsalted butterslightly softened
4firm to ripelarge pears (Williams or Comice)peeled, cored, chopped
2apples (Granny Smith or Golden Delicious)peeled, cored, chopped
10g (2 tsp)vanilla sugar or cane sugar with ½ teaspoon vanilla powder
50g (2oz/¼ cup)dark bittersweet chocolate (min 64%)good quality, in button form or grated
Instructions
Combine all the crumble ingredients in a large bowl, lightly rubbing through your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Set aside. (At this point the crumble topping can be frozen for up to 2 months in a sealed container.)
Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/400°F/Gas 6.
Peel, core and chop up the pears and apples roughly into chunks. Melt the butter in a large non-stick frying pan, toss in the fruit chunks and sprinkle over the vanilla sugar. Leave to cook over a medium heat, turning the fruit now and again, for about 5 minutes (no more than 8). The fruit should not be mushy, just lightly cooked. Drain off any excess fruit juice if there is any (set aside and reduce over medium heat to serve apart with the crumble later so that there's no waste).
Transfer the fruit to a gratin or pudding dish (no need to butter it) and scatter over the dark chocolate. Sprinkle on a generous amount of crumble until the fruit and chocolate are completely covered.
Bake for about 25 minutes, or until the top is toasted or lightly browned. Leave to cool slightly before serving.
Notes
Serve warm or at room temperature.Replace the dark chocolate with milk chocolate according to taste.Although fresh pears are best for this recipe, tinned pears are also great!We normally serve this crumble on its own (as the French do) but if you prefer, add some vanilla ice cream, crème fraîche, pouring cream or chai crème anglaise. Excellent served with homemade chestnut ice cream or an adult boozy ice cream such as this non-churn Drambuie ice cream.