Crumbles and crisps are the lazy baker's salvation - they can be made in advance and endlessly varied. Our favorite version for Sinterklaas and Christmas features a crunchy crust of almonds, brown sugar and gingerbread cookies (use leftover kruidnoten, speculaas or whatever ginger-flavored cookie you prefer) with a warm, orange-and-ginger-spiked center of pears.

Because we love the hot-cold contrast, we usually serve this crumble with ice cream, but whipped cream or hangop would make a good match, too. We suggest using best quality store-bought vanilla ice cream, or try making our cinnamon ice cream or boerenjongens ice cream.

See Also

Ten Dutch Holiday Treats

More About Dutch Christmas

More About Sinterklaas

Ingredients

• FOR THE CRUST:
• 1 cup (120 g) all-purpose flour
• Pinch of salt
• 1/3 cup (90 g) fridge-cold butter
• 3 tbsp light muscovado sugar (lichtbruine basterdsuiker)
• 5 speculaas/ginger cookies or 20 kruidnoten
• 1/3 cup (40 g) slivered almonds
• FOR THE FILLING:
• 6½ cups (800 g) firm pears, peeled, cored and chopped into bite-sized chunks
• 3 tbsp light muscovado sugar (lichtbruine basterdsuiker)
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 small (organic) orange, zest and juice
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 pieces of stem ginger, chopped
• 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
• YOU WILL NEED:
• A 2-pint (1 liter) pie dish

• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 25 minutes

• Total Time: 35 minutes
• Yield: Serves 4 - 6.

Preparation

For the crumble: Dice the butter into 1/2-inch (1 cm) cubes. Rub the flour, salt and butter together. Stir in the sugar. Pulse the cookies in a food processor until it turns to a crumbly rubble. Alternatively, put the cookies in a strong plastic freezer bag and bash with a rolling pin until crumbled. Add the crumbled cookies and the almonds to the flour-butter mixture and mix well. Now spoon the crumble mixture back into a plastic freezer bag and place in the freezer until needed.

This step can be done several days in advance.

For the pear filling: Grease a pie dish. Cook the pears with the butter, sugar, orange zest and -juice and vanilla extract in a non-stick pan, over a medium heat, for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat. Add the stem ginger and sprinkle over the flour, and mix well. Spoon the mixture into the pie dish, cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge until needed. This step can be done several hours in advance.

To assemble and cook the crumble: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Remove the pie dish from the fridge and the crumble topping from the freezer. Top the fruit with the crumble topping. Cook in a preheated oven for 20-35 minutes until the crumble has browned and the fruit is hot through. Serve warm.

Did you know?

• Not sure which pears to use for this recipe? Check out our guide to pear varieties.
• What's the difference between vanilla extract and vanilla essence (imitation vanilla) anyway?
• What is muscovado sugar again? Learn more about the different kinds of sugar.

10 Crumble Recipes from Around the World

• American Bumbleberry Crumble Recipe
• Kosher Apple Crumble Recipe
• Savory Asparagus with Lemon Matzo Crumble Recipe
• Traditional British Rhubarb Crumble Recipe
• French Peach Crumble Recipe
• Australian Apple & Passionfruit Crumble Recipe
• Gluten-Free Buttery Apple Crumble Recipe
• Polish Fruit Crumble Recipe
• Fresh Cherry Crumble Recipe
• Vegan Oatmeal & Apple Crumble Recipe

 

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