Perfect Pear Crisp

If you ask Matt about his favorite dessert, he will say pear or peach crisp. I love it too. This weekend I went up to the fruit stand by our house and found some beautiful pears. They almost looked too pretty to cut up! I made a few changes to a pear crisp recipe that I found on Smitten Kitchen. The main change is that I did not have brandy. Instead I used a little almond extract. The end result was delicious, so I think it was a good substitution! I was able to use a vanilla bean that I bought a while ago and it was really fun. I've never baked with a real vanilla bean before. The vanilla and brown butter in this recipe gave the crisp a wonderful flavor. It was different from the usual cinnamon and nutmeg and I think it really let the flavor of the pears come through.

Pear Crisp with Vanilla Brown Butter

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Topping:

1 1/2 cups flour

1 cup almonds (I used sliced almonds)

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Pulse together flour, almonds, sugar, and salt in a food processor until nuts are finely chopped. Add butter and pulse until just blended. Coarsely crumble in a shallow baking dish and let chill in refrigerator for 1 hour (or up to 2 days in advance, covered).

Filling:

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

1/2 stick unsalted butter

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 tablespoon flour

3 lbs. pears, peeled and coarsely chopped (I used 7 ripe bartlett pears)

1 teaspoon almond extract

Scrape seeds from the vanilla bean into a small saucepan. Then add the whole pod and butter. Cook over medium-low heat, swirling pan occasionally, until butter is browned and fragrant, about 5 minutes. Be careful that the butter turns just brown - you don't want it to burn!

Stir together white and brown sugars, flour, and a pinch of salt in a large bowl. Add pears and almond extract and toss to combine.

The pears already tasted delicious at this point... I couldn't wait to taste them after they came out of the oven with the crumbly topping!

Discard vanilla pod from butter mixture and toss the butter with the pears. I let my butter cool for about 10 minutes while I peeled and chopped my pears.

Spoon filling into a large baking dish and sprinkle with topping. Bake at 425 degrees for 40-45 minutes, until topping is golden brown and filling is bubbling.

Cool for about 10 minutes and serve with vanilla ice cream. Yum!