Pear Crisp with Miso and Almonds
By Nicole KonstantinakosPublished on October 18, 2021
Time
1¼ hours
Yield
Serves 6
Ingredients
Topping
¾ cup (3¾ ounces/106 grams) all-purpose flour ½ cup panko bread crumbs ⅓ cup sliced almonds, toasted and chopped coarse¼ cup packed (1¾ ounces/50 grams) light brown sugar 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted1 tablespoon white miso ¼ teaspoon almond extractFilling
2 pounds (907 grams) slightly underripe Bosc pears, peeled, quartered lengthwise, cored, and sliced crosswise ½ inch thick¾ cup packed (5¼ ounces/149 grams) light brown sugar ⅓ cup dried cherries ¼ cup heavy cream 1 tablespoon cornstarch 1 tablespoon lemon juice ¼ teaspoon table salt 2 tablespoons unsalted butterBefore You Begin
Serve with vanilla ice cream. Be sure to use white (shiro) miso—which is relatively mellow and sweet—in this recipe. If you can't find it, you can substitute ½ teaspoon of table salt. Dried cranberries can be substituted for the cherries.
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk flour, panko, almonds, sugar, lemon zest, and cinnamon together in bowl. Whisk melted butter, miso, and almond extract in second bowl until miso is dissolved. Stir butter mixture into flour mixture until no dry spots of flour remain and mixture forms clumps. Refrigerate until ready to use (topping can be covered and refrigerated for up to 24 hours).
- Toss pears, sugar, cherries, cream, cornstarch, lemon juice, and salt in large bowl until thoroughly combined. Melt butter in 10-inch ovensafe skillet over medium-high heat. Add pear mixture and cook, stirring frequently, until pears have released enough liquid to be mostly submerged and juices have thickened and turned glossy, 6 to 8 minutes. Off heat, stir to ensure cherries are evenly distributed throughout mixture.
- Squeeze topping into large clumps with your hands. Crumble topping into pea-size pieces over filling. Bake until topping is browned and filling is bubbling around sides of skillet, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes. Serve.TO MAKE AHEAD: At end of step 2, transfer filling to shallow 1½- to 2-quart baking dish, cover, and refrigerate for up to 24 hours. When ready to bake, microwave filling until heated through, about 5 minutes, stirring halfway through microwaving. Continue with step 3.
for the topping
for the filling
Time
1¼ hoursYield
Serves 6Ingredients
Topping
Filling
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Topping
Filling
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Topping
Filling
Test Kitchen Techniques
Why This Recipe Works
This simple, no-fuss pear crisp recipe boasts some upgrades that make it uniquely and surprisingly satisfying. The warm filling of juicy pears and sweet-tart cherries is lavishly draped in a gooey caramel-like blanket of cream, brown sugar, and butter. But that's not all. Top that off with a luxurious crust of rich, salty-sweet miso-almond crumble, and this pear crisp becomes something really irresistible. Adding a small amount of miso to the crumble topping animated all the other ingredients in the dish and brought their flavors into focus. Bosc pears that were just shy of ripe worked best here because their firm, dense flesh retained its shape after baking. Dried cherries, lemon zest and juice, almond extract, and chopped sliced almonds rounded out, complemented, and amplified the sweet floral flavor of the pears. Cooking the filling briefly on the stovetop to coax out and thicken the fruit juices before baking made this recipe failproof, ensuring that the filling would never turn out soupy.
Before You Begin
Serve with vanilla ice cream. Be sure to use white (shiro) miso—which is relatively mellow and sweet—in this recipe. If you can't find it, you can substitute ½ teaspoon of table salt. Dried cranberries can be substituted for the cherries.
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk flour, panko, almonds, sugar, lemon zest, and cinnamon together in bowl. Whisk melted butter, miso, and almond extract in second bowl until miso is dissolved. Stir butter mixture into flour mixture until no dry spots of flour remain and mixture forms clumps. Refrigerate until ready to use (topping can be covered and refrigerated for up to 24 hours).
- Toss pears, sugar, cherries, cream, cornstarch, lemon juice, and salt in large bowl until thoroughly combined. Melt butter in 10-inch ovensafe skillet over medium-high heat. Add pear mixture and cook, stirring frequently, until pears have released enough liquid to be mostly submerged and juices have thickened and turned glossy, 6 to 8 minutes. Off heat, stir to ensure cherries are evenly distributed throughout mixture.
- Squeeze topping into large clumps with your hands. Crumble topping into pea-size pieces over filling. Bake until topping is browned and filling is bubbling around sides of skillet, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes. Serve.TO MAKE AHEAD: At end of step 2, transfer filling to shallow 1½- to 2-quart baking dish, cover, and refrigerate for up to 24 hours. When ready to bake, microwave filling until heated through, about 5 minutes, stirring halfway through microwaving. Continue with step 3.
for the topping
for the filling
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