Terri Nackey’s Cardamon Pear Crisp

We’ve been chatting over the last two days with Terri Nackey, the founder of La Bella Terre, who shared her insights into the benefits of eating seasonal, locally grown foods and getting back into touch with the garden. Today, we’ve got her recipe for cardamon pear crisp using her cardamon scented sugar.

“This cardamom-scented pear crisp is best served still warm from the oven, topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or salted caramel gelato. The secret to a crunchy, chunky topping is working the oat mixture into large clumps with your hands — this helps the topping hold together atop the pears while toasting to a golden brown.”

Get the recipe after the jump.

Cardamon Pear Crisp

Ingredients
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour, (spooned and leveled)
1 cup cardamom scented sugar
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted grass fed butter, cold, cut into small cubes
2/3 cup old-fashioned rolled organic oats (not quick-cooking)
3 pounds of pears in season, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch slices
½ cup chopped walnut pieces
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, salt. Cut butter into flour, using a pastry blender or two knives, until mixture is the texture of coarse meal. Add oats and the walnuts, and use your hands to toss and squeeze mixture until large, moist clumps form. Transfer to freezer to chill while you prepare the pears.

In another large bowl, toss the pears with the lemon juice, coating well. Transfer to a shallow 2-quart greased baking dish (I like to use olive), and sprinkle with the crisp mixture. Place the baking dish in the oven, and bake until golden brown and bubbling, 45-55 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes before serving.

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