This Easy Pear Crumble features delicious chunks of sweet pear, flavoured with a hint of cinnamon, and topped with a perfectly light and crisp crumble topping. This recipe is quick, simple and virtually foolproof – giving you perfect pear crumble every time!
Got pears? Make crumble!
One of my all-time favourite desserts is apple crumble – I love how quick and easy it is to make and what a total crowd-pleaser it always is.
But what about pears? Can you make crumble with pears? Absolutely! Pears may be less traditional, but they are no less delicious.
This easy pear crumble features delicious chunks of sweet pear, flavoured with a hint of cinnamon, and topped with a perfectly light and crisp crumble topping. This recipe is quick, simple and virtually foolproof – giving you perfect pear crumble every time!
How to make pear crumble
Pear crumble is so easy to make!
All you need to do is rub together flour and butter until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs (or do this in a food processor if you prefer), then stir in some brown sugar.
Next place your peeled and chopped pears in the dish you are planning to use to cook the crumble in, and stir in a little brown sugar and cinnamon.
Sprinkle over the crumble topping – making sure it’s not too neat! (You want lots peaks and troughs to give it that really good crumble texture.)
Finally, cook your crumble for 40 minutes, or until it is golden on top.
(Full recipe given in the recipe card below.)
What to serve with pear crumble
Personally, I like to serve pear crumble with lashings of custard!
But pear crumble is also delicious with cream, ice cream or yogurt.
What to drink with pear crumble
If you’re keeping things traditional, then you can’t go wrong with a cup of tea or coffee!
But if (like me!) you are a fan of dessert wines, then pear crumble is very wine friendly and goes brilliantly with Sauternes (or similar sweet wines from Bordeaux), Chenin-based dessert wines from the Loire – such as Coteaux du Layon – or late harvest (spätlese) Rieslings from Germany.
Make it your own!
This Easy Pear Crumble is so easy to adapt to your own personal tastes or to whatever you happen to have in your cupboards / fridge. For example, you could:
- Add in a handful of fresh blackberries and/or raspberries and/or blackcurrants
- Add in a couple of handfuls of frozen mixed berries
- Add in a handful of dried fruit (for example sultanas, raisins or currants)
- Make this half pear and half bramley apple
- Use cloves instead of (or as well as) the cinnamon
- Use mixed spice or pumpkin spice instead of the cinnamon
- Use white sugar instead of brown
- Use dark soft brown sugar instead of light
- Swap half (or all) the flour for the same quantity of porridge oats
- Swap half (or all) the white flour for the same quantity of wholemeal flour
- Make the topping dairy free and gluten free, as per this recipe
(I’d love to hear about how you have adapted my recipe… Let me know in the comments section below!)
What to do with leftover pear crumble?
Leftover pear crumble keeps brilliantly! Just cover any leftovers (or transfer them to a lidded container) and pop it in the fridge, where it will keep for up to 4 days.
Either eat your leftover pear crumble cold, or reheat in an oven set to 180C (160C fan / gas mark 4 / 350F) for 10-15 minutes – or until piping hot all the way through. (You can also reheat pear crumble in the microwave, if you prefer!)
If you are not able to eat the leftovers straight away, pear crumble also freezes brilliantly…
Can you freeze pear crumble?
Absolutely! Pear crumble freezes really well. Simply transfer the cooked and cooled pear crumble to a lidded, freezer-safe container and place in the freezer, where it will keep for up to 6 months.
Defrost overnight in the fridge and reheat as above.
If you like this recipe…
…you might also like:
- Easy Peasy Apple Crumble
- Easy Apple and Blackberry Crumble
- Easy Summer Fruits Crumble
- Peach and Cherry Crumble (Gluten Free, Vegan)
- Freeform Pear Tart
Freeform Pear Tart
Easy Pear Crumble
Ingredients
- 200 g plain white flour (US - all purpose flour)
- 100 g cold butter cut into roughly 1cm / ½inch cubes (see Note 1)
- 100 g soft light brown sugar (see Note 2)
- 1 kg conference pears peeled, cores removed and chopped into small pieces (see Note 3)
- 1 tablespoon soft light brown sugar or to taste
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon or to taste (optional – leave the cinnamon out if you are not a fan!)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180C / 160C fan / gas mark 4 / 350F.
- Put the flour and butter in a large bowl and rub together until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs (or do this in a food processor if you prefer).
- Add the 100g (3½oz) soft light brown sugar and stir. (There is no need to sieve the flour or sugar, as a bit of a rough texture is what is needed for a good crumble!)
- Set the crumble mixture to one side and prepare the pears. Peel them, remove the cores and then chop into bite-sized pieces – roughly 1cm / ½inch cubes – but it doesn’t matter too much, actually a mixture of smaller and larger pieces is quite nice.
- Put the pears in the dish you are planning to use to cook the crumble and add 1 tablespoon of soft light brown sugar and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. Stir together the pears, the sugar and the cinnamon until the pears are evenly coated.
- Sprinkle over the crumble topping – this can be quite rough and ready, but make sure all the fruit is covered. If it looks a bit too neat on top, rough it up a bit. You want lots of peaks and troughs to give it that really good crumble texture.
- Put your crumble in the preheated oven for 40 minutes or until it is golden on top. Serve with custard, cream, ice cream or yogurt.
Notes
- You can use margarine if you prefer, but personally I find the flavour and texture far better with butter.
- You can use white sugar if you prefer, but I find the flavour and texture far better with light soft brown sugar. For a more caramelized / smoky taste, you could use dark soft brown sugar or muscovado sugar!
- For best results, I recommend using conference pears, but you can use other types of pear if you prefer.
- Suitable for freezing.
- Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.
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Lellalee says
Oh I absolutely love pears, I never did think to make them in a crumble! I’ll definitely be making this. xxx
Eb Gargano says
Yay – that’s great to hear 😀 Let us know how you get on!