Pear Blackberry Crisp

Not sure if I had more fun taking pictures of this recipe, or eating it…which is saying a lot since Fruit Crisp is one of my childhood favorites; reminds me of many Sunday evenings at our house.
But there’s just something about fruit that makes me want to snap photos. Watermelon, Cantaloupe, double dark chocolate Pomegranates–the colors and textures are captivating. So I was happy to plop pears and berries on my kitchen table together.
Of course I hadn’t considered how hard it would be to expose both fruits together properly–one so dark, one so light.
But we worked it out.
And then I baked them into buttery, crispy-topped goodness.
This recipe can be used for a variety of fruit crisps–apple being one of my favorites. But I wanted to mix it up here. And when I called my mom with a baking question, she had just made pear apple crisp herself! Yep, same gene pool.

There are many crumble and crisp recipes out there–most calling for oats in the topping. It’s yummy. But I really prefer this version best–sans the oats–just flour, sugar, and butter. It’s like enjoying white bread over wheat. Sometimes you just want simple and plain. But I’ll let you decide.
Pear Blackberry Crisp
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cups butter
* for any type of fruit crisp, simply use equal parts of sugar and flour, and half that amount of butter for the topping

5 ripe pears – thinly sliced (if they’re too thick, they take forever to soften)
1 to 2 cups blackberries or other berry
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbl flour
1 tsp lemon juice
* the fruit amounts are approximate. You can really add as much as you’d like or mix it up with other fruits (apple, plum, blueberry, rhubarb with strawberries–add extra sugar in the fruit mix to offset the tartness).
Mostly you need enough fruit to cover an 8 1/2 x 11 dish, a couple inches deep.

First the topping.
Mix the flour and sugar and cut in the butter till fairly mixed (you could throw it in the food processor for a bit if that’s easier).

Then the fruit.
Mix the pears, berries, sugar, flour, and lemon juice. Lay in an 8 1/2 x 11 inch baking dish and sprinkle with the topping.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 35-45 minutes or until the topping is golden brown and the fruit juices are bubbling. I found that it took longer for pears to soften compared to apple crisp, so stick a fork in the middle of a slice and make sure the fruit is fully baked.
Let the crisp cool for 5 minutes. Then serve it warm with vanilla bean ice cream.
Life doesn’t get much better.
Here. Have a sample.
Check out the Sweets and Treats archive page HERE.

  1. This just looks and sounds so heavenly gooooood…
    Will try in tomorrow, I’m hosting a girls night in šŸ™‚ Thank you for sharing!

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