Pear and Ginger Crisp

I always buy bananas. They don't get eaten, so then I make a variety of banana breads.

Recently I have been buying pears. They don't get eaten, so I've been making sauce and baked pears and crisps.

What is this? Do Ed and I just not like fresh fruit?

I guess so, when, at night, I see that we are munching on popcorn and nuts instead.

But I keep trying. Meantime, the banana breads and the fruit crisps are very tasty. 

I just bought a lot of grapefruits. Let's see what happens.

Anyway, here's a recipe for a delightful pear crisp.

Pear and Ginger Crisp

filling:

• 6 ripe pears
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped or grated fresh ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• pinch of salt

crust:

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup old fashioned oats
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons butter, cold margarine or firm coconut oil

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. 

To make the filling: peel, core and slice the pears and place them in a bowl. Add the lemon juice, ginger, cinnamon, brown sugar, flour and salt. Toss the ingredients gently and place in a baking dish. Set aside.

To make the crust: combine the flour, oats, brown sugar and salt in a bowl. Add the fat in chunks and work into the dry ingredients with hands or a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Scatter over the pear mixture. Bake for about 35 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. Let cool slightly before serving. Best if served warm.

 Makes 6-8 servings

Matzolah Pear Crisp

It doesn’t get easier than this dessert, especially during Passover when we are looking for something really delicious but there are so many restrictions to what we can eat.

This is pear crisp — which you could make with apples, peaches, blueberries and every other fruit that you usually bake into a crisp. But the top crust is made with Matzolah.

Yep, Matzolah! It’s a kind of granola made with matzo. I tasted it at the Kosherfest food festival — where it won Best New “Kosher for Passover” product — and thought it was really yummy. Crunchy. Not overly sweet.

Foodman’s, the company that manufactures it using Streit’s matzos, bills this as a breakfast cereal or nosh (like trail mix). Which is, of course, just fine.

But you know me. One taste and I was thinking about the possibilities. So I asked the person who was giving out samples if she thought it would work for baking and she said “try it!” And she sent me a carton of the stuff.

Which I used for a couple of recipes and which, indeed, is terrific for baking.

Like for a crisp or cobbler or whatever you wish to call it. This is a dish that you can serve for breakfast or dessert. Or snack.

The crust is sweet (one of Matzolah’s ingredients is maple syrup) — but not overly so and not cloying. But I don’t add any extra sugar or other sweetener to the fruit; just a bit of orange juice. Then it’s just a matter of mixing the Matzolah with spices and a bit of butter, crumbling it over the fruit and putting it in the oven. 

How easy is that?!

Matzolah Pear Crisp

 4 large pears

1/4 cup apple or orange juice

1 cup Matzolah

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

pinch or two of salt

1/4 cup butter or margarine

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Peel, core and slice the pears and place them in a casserole dish. Sprinkle with the juice and set aside. Toss the Matzolah, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt together in a bowl. Add the butter in chunks and work into the Matzolah mixture. Sprinkle the mixture on top of the pears. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Makes 4 servings