Cranberry&Pear Crisp

This awesome dessert is courtesy of the Smitten Kitchen.  I've had it sitting on my Pinterest board for awhile now and I just got around to making it.  The sweet fruit and unique gingersnap topping are paired perfectly.  Served with a scoop (or two!) of vanilla ice cream, it was just what I was craving. 

Here's the link to the recipe as posted on the Smitten Kitchen website, but I'll also post it here just for referencehttp://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2011/10/pear-cranberry-and-gingersnap-crumble/

The fruity part:
4 large pears (I used Bartlett) - make sure they're good and ripe!
1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries
1 T. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. lemon zest
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract (I may have added just a tinsy bit more JUST BECAUSE I CAN...)
1/2 cup sugar
2 T. cornstarch (I didn't have any so I used flour...man, I'm so rebellious)

The crispy/gingersnappy part:
1 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
3 T. brown sugar
1 cup gingersnap crumbs
1/8 tsp. ground ginger
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter, melted

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Transform your lovely little gingersnap cookies into lovely little gingersnap cookie crumbs.  A food processor works wonderfully for this process, but you could also let out some aggression by placing the cookies in a baggie and pounding them with a rolling pin.  Whatever floats your boat...


3. Combine the crispy/gingersnappy ingredients in a mixing bowl.  Stir in the melted butter and mix until large crumbs form.  Set aside.
4. Peel and core the pears and slice into 1/4 inch slices.  Throw these into a 9x13 baking dish.  Add the cranberries to the dish.  Now, mix together the rest of the fruity ingredients and pour over the pears and cranberries.  Mix it all up so that every piece of fruit is covered.




5. Last, but not least, scatter the crumbly topping over the fruit.  Place your baking dish on a foil lined pan (just in case the fruit decides to get crazy and over-bubble) and bake for apprx. 45 minutes.  Once the crisp is darkened and bubbly, it's done.




This may be better than apple crisp.  *Gasp*  Crazy talk, I know... but it's seriously good.
(Also, sorry the pictures are weirdly grainy - I don't know why that happened.  Er... I mean, I wanted them to look that way -- it's called "art"....)

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