Crunchy Pear Crumble
Comments(22)
You know what there should be more of? Recipes for desserts to serve one. You don’t really come across single serve dessert recipes too often, because well, it would be a major pain in the bum to measure out the quantities to bake/cook to do so. For instance, imagine a chocolate mousse recipe for one. The quantities of the ingredients required would read something like: 40g chocolate, 50ml of cream, half an egg… you get my drift. It’s just ridiculous.
After thinking about it for a while, I set out in creating an easy winter dessert recipe that could serve one without being too much of a bother to prepare. I struggled for a while re-calculating a few of my favourite recipes, but a lot of them required eggs and after a few conversions, I realised that I wasn’t going to measure out a third of an egg or whip up a tablespoon of cream.
But after staring at my too-ripe pears on my kitchen bench, I knew what would work brilliantly… a pear crumble! It’s one of the easiest recipes to prepare (all using your fingers), it can be made for one and the recipe below can be adjusted to serve two, three or as many as you like!
Maybe I should set out in creating a book of recipes that only make one serving. How’s this for a possible title: “Desserts by yourself… literally” :p
Crunchy Pear Crumble
1 large ripe pear, peeled and diced
1 teaspoon of brown sugar
Crumble
½ cup rolled oats
¼ cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons plain flour
40g of unsalted butter, softened
good sprinkle of ground cinnamon
- Preheat the oven to 180°C.
- In your serving bowl, toss together the chopped up pear and teaspoon of sugar.
- In another small bowl, mush together all the crumble ingredients, making sure it’s kind of lumpy.
- Sprinkle the crumble mix over the pears and bake for around 15 minutes or until the fruit is soft and the crumble is golden brown.
Serve with vanilla ice-cream or thick cream.
Serves one.
More single desserts for the people! Fortunately, if you really can’t make just one of something (e.g. chocolate mousse/pudding), you can probably keep it in the fridge or freezer until next time. Very practical for those nights when you can’t sleep and want some chocolate, but the stores are all closed.
It’s a good point isn’t it! (And a simple, tasty idea.) I’m always grumbling about the multiple pots of custard or servings of rice pudding hiding in the fridge calling my name every time I reach in for something angelicly healthy. Dessert leftovers are not good for you. A one-off is a much better solution:)
I love the idea of desserts for one. Wouldn’t it be a good event to host.
I agree with you! I need more desserts for just me. What am I going to do with galloons of cookie dough or 16 cupcakes? I’d like just one, please :)
i know what you mean! i always struggle to divide recipes by 3 or 4 to yield a small amt because my family simply can’t finish a whole cheesecake or 24 cupcakes (ok, so 24 cupcakes can’t fit into my oven either). i love crumbles too and recently baked a strawberry and apple crumble which i’ve yet to blog about. i think bread puddings are also good for single portions! here’s mine =)
This is the most brilliant idea :) I love baking and desserts, but I find it frustrating sometimes, as my husband and I simply can’t get through many of the desserts I make: the quantities are so often better suited to a really large family. You must start working on a desserts for one or two book straight away! K
i suggest you compile a list of recipes for single serving desserts, because if they’re all like this one, you’ll make millions. awesome. :)
I love to make deserts for several, when eating by myself – it means something sweet to eat the next afternoon. Delicious!
You take such beautiful photos. This pear crisp soups great. I am a big fan of crumble toppings with oats, brown sugar and butter.
My hubby doesn’t like sweets, so I’d buy your book! :)
This crumble looks amazing. I love baking with pears.
Your crumble looks absolutely delicious! Can nearly smell it from here!
There’s a cookbook idea in there just waiting to come to fruition! Single serve baking :)
Looks lovely! I love pear desserts. My new favorite is pear sorbet!
Wow, this looks yummy. This is a wonderful idea. When ever I bake I am racked with guilt because there is always so much! What to do with it all! Thanks for inspiring!
Thank you thank you thank you for this recipe. Now that I’m single, dessert for one sounds pretty nice… I love it. And as a side note… I just ate a cold burrito, left overs, from the fridge. I’m single, and I’m saying a lot of things…
Thanks for the crumble. I’m gonna go hide now.
You are seriously on to something here. Let me know when the cookbook comes out. There are two of us here, but I make us lots of individual servings, especially when it comes to desserts.
Well, I would buy your book! When I’m having a sweet craving sometimes I just want one, but I’m “forced” to eat the whole dozen! This pear crumble sounds delish!
Sounds like a great cook book to me! I know I would buy that for several of my single friends!
I’ve been struggling to get a good looking crumble for a while; seems like the answer is to use more oats. Yet another great food photo.
I must try this crumble. Sure I have a family… but it’s not like I plan to share!
ummm….ever considered how much energy you’re wasting heating up the oven to feed one person?? just saying…..not that I don’t love your idea, I do, but sounds awfully wasteful…
Nathan – oats are the KEY to good crumble in my opinion. It gives it such a great crunch and they are ‘healthy’ too.
Marisa – of course heating up the oven for one is waste of energy. I actually used the oven after making a roast for the family.
I LOVE this idea! It’s the perfect dessert for those work-widow nights :-)