This time of year, as the growing season is winding down, I get such pleasure in driving down the road and seeing all the wild apple and pear trees, whose leaves have started thinning out as if they are finally ready to show off their summer's work to the world.
It brings me great comfort seeing these trees hung heavy with fruit as summer comes to an end. It's as if everything is as it should be with the world: Simple, beautiful and abundant, with the promise of a bountiful harvest that will ensure survival through our long Vermont winters.
And I can't decide which I like better; a sweet, ripe pear whose juice drips with each bite or a hard, tart, crunchy apple so satisfying and bursting with complex flavor.
In an interesting juxtaposition, the very best apples, no matter which of the seven thousand plus varieties in the world, must have chilly, early autumn nights to augment their flavor, followed by the last of the summer's sun giving them a final kiss of warmth to bring out their crowning color.
And pears that have spent all summer rock hard as they grew to fruition have softened, ripened and sweetened seemingly overnight in the last warmth of the summer's sun.
When I see the fruit hanging in the trees, I find myself getting excited about all the things I can do with it. I love to make pies, sauces and cakes with apples. And I can never decide if I want to get the peeling and coring 'over with' by using a peeler and paring knife, or if I want to take a little more time and practice getting really good at making one long, thin peel using nothing but a razor-sharp paring knife as generations of women did before me.
There are two memories I hold dear from when my boys were young. One would be all the dozens of times I've had to shoo them away as I was working on apples, because the moment I'd turn my head, rather than grabbing a whole apple from the basket and eating it, they would sneak over and snitch a handful of the apples I'd just taken the time to peel and slice.
But perhaps my sweetest memory is of the time I was sitting on the kitchen step of my old farmhouse on a warm, Indian summer's day. My boys, who were little at the time, were upstairs napping as I peeled, sliced and cored the Bartlett pears from the tree in our front yard that we'd had fun picking earlier that morning. The radio was playing quietly in the background and I sang along as I worked on putting up quarts of pear sauce for the winter, while the last bees of the season buzzed about trying valiantly to slurp up as much of the sweet pear nectar as they could.
Harvest season has begun here in Dorset and there are loads of treats that I love making for my family and friends using apples and pears. But since I've had a hankering lately, I thought I'd share my favorite pear crumble recipe with you, I hope you enjoy it!
Rum infused Pear Crumble with Maple Pecan Topping
Ingredients for Filling:
- 5 lbs. Pears -I use a combination of Bosc and Bartletts
- 1/4 cup White Raisins
- 1/2 cup Butternut Mountain Farm Organic Maple Sugar
- 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp Nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp Cardamom
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1 tbsp Blue Cattle Truck Mexican Vanilla
- 1 cup Butternut Mountain Farm Maple Syrup
- 1/2 cup Lemon Juice
- 1/2 cup Flour
- 1/2 cup Dark Rum
- 4 tbsp cold Butter, chopped or grated.
Instructions:
-Peel and core the pears.
-In a large bowl, slice and chunk them into varying sizes and thicknesses.
-Pour the Rum and vanilla over the pears and let them sit for at least an hour stirring every 15 minutes.
-Add the rest of the ingredients and, using your hands, gently blend the mixture thoroughly.
-Using a rubber spatula, pour the pear mixture into a Bennington Pottery "Square Baker", then put it on a lipped baking sheet to catch any overflow that might occur.
-Add the topping (see the recipe and instructions below).
Ingredients for Topping:
- 6 tbsp Butter, melted
- 3/4 cup Flour, all purpose
- 1/4 cup Oats
- 3/4 cup Pecans, chopped
- 1-1/2 tsp Cinnamon
- 1 cup Butternut Mountain Farm Organic Maple Sugar
- 1/4 cup Brown Sugar
Instructions:
-Measure out the flour, oats, pecans, cinnamon, maple sugar and brown sugar in a bowl and mix them thoroughly.
-Add the melted butter to the dry ingredients and combine them until the butter is worked in.
- Crumble the topping evenly over the pear filling until it is completely covered with the topping.
-Bake for 90 minutes at 350º.
-Take it out of the oven and let it cool for a minimum of 15 minutes.
-Serve as is, or topped with whipped cream, vanilla ice cream or a little sour cream for those who like things less sweet.
Author Note: Nancy Carey Johnson is a singer/songwriter and the award- winning author of Life is Good: Wit & Wisdom From A Vermont Homesteader and The Vermont Homesteader's Christmas Memories: Wit, Wisdom & Holiday Recipes. She lives in Poultney, Vermont with her three dogs, four cats and a flock of clucking Chickens, she is also the mother of four grown sons. In her spare time, she loves to garden and bake.
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