This pear crisp with whiskey caramel is an irresistible dessert…don’t count on having any leftovers!
Ingredients
For the crisp:
2 ripe pears
¼ cup (45g) flour
¼ cup (30g) rolled oats
¼ cup (50g) dark brown sugar
¼ teaspoon (1g) ground cinnamon
¼ (1g) teaspoon salt
4 walnuts, chopped
15 almonds or pecans, chopped
8 tsp (40g) unsalted butter, chopped
For the salted caramel:
¼ cup + 2 tablespoons (100g) sugar
3 tablespoons (42g) butter
¼ cup (60ml) heavy cream
1-2 pinches teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon (15ml) whiskey
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Line a large baking dish with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, walnuts, almonds or pecans and butter.
Rinse the pears well, cut them in half then remove the ends and stem. Scoop out the seeds with a spoon so that you have a small hollow cavity. Slice off a little piece of the outside of each pear and set them cut side up on the baking dish; by doing this, the pear won’t wobble or tip. Put a few spoonful of the crisp inside each of the hollowed centers. Pop the pan into the oven and bake for 30 minutes or until the pears are soft when poked with a fork.
In the meantime, make the whiskey caramel sauce. In a medium saucepan, cook the sugar over medium heat without stirring. After a few minutes, the sugar will start to melt around the boarders. At this point, drag the sugar towards the center with a rubber spatula so the liquid doesn’t burn. Instead of stirring rotate the pan with your hands (that are obviously tucked nice and snug in a pair of oven mitts.)
When the sugar has completely melted, has turned a caramel color and there are no sugar clumps, add the butter and stir rapidly for a few minutes.
Remove the saucepan from the heat and add the heavy cream and stir vigorously. Be extremely careful in this step as the cream will try to boil up and out of the pan and it is very very hot. Add the pan back on the stove and cook for another minute, while constantly stirring.
Remove the saucepan from the stove and add the salt and whiskey. (Adjusting also to your own tastes.)
When the pear crisp is ready, add a scoop of gelato and/or a drizzle of whiskey caramel sauce.
*Store the whiskey caramel sauce covered in a glass container in the fridge and heat before use. (Although I highly doubt any sauce will remain!)