Quick Apple Pear Crumble

It seems like I've been posting about a lot of desserts lately. I think it's due to all the studying I've been doing for my comprehensive exam (two more weeks to go--eeeek). I barely have time to cook us real dinners these days, but on the weekends I always want to bake or make some kind of dessert to make up for the fact that we ate veggie burgers and spaghetti for dinner most of the week.

The inspiration for this apple pear crumble came from my Abel and Cole cookbook. The original recipe is more of guideline so I felt free make a smaller portion and reduce the butter used for the topping. It's not much to look at, but its the perfect winter comfort dessert. The apples and pears keep their texture but the best part is the the spicy, sweet crumble. I still consider it a relatively healthy dessert though as 4-5 servings only has 2.5T of butter. Recipe after the jump.

Quick Apple Pear Crumble
Inspired by the Able and Cole Cookbook
Serves 4-5

2 apples, peeled in zebra stripes and cored*
2 pears, peeled in zebra stripes and cored*
1 T. rum or brandy
juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 T. sugar
1/3 C. (40g) flour
1/3 C. rolled oats
1/3 C. (60g) dark brown sugar
1/4 t. ground cinnamon
1/4 t. ground ginger
a few grates of nutmeg
pinch salt
2.5 T butter

- Preheat oven to 375F. Lightly great a casserole dish or pie plate.

- Chop apples and pears into 1/2in (1cm) cubes. Place in the dish, pour on the rum, lemon and sugar and toss to combine.

- In a small bowl, combine the flour, oats, sugar, spices and salt. Cut the butter into small pieces and drop into the bowl. Use your finger tips to work the butter into the flour mixture, rubbing it between your fingers like you are feeling the texture of a cashmere sweater at Neimans, until the butter is incorporated and the mixture looks like coarse breadcrumbs.

- Sprinkle the topping evenly over the fruit mixture and bake for 30-40 minutes or until the topping is golden and the fruit is tender. Serve hot or at room temperature.

*I like to leave on the peel for its nutrition benefits but leaving all of it on can give the crumble an unpleasant texture. My solution is to remove about half of the peel of the fruit by taking off stripes with a vegetable peeler. The zebra striping leaves enough peel that I at least feel like I'm getting some vitamins, but not so much that it affects the texture of the finished product.