pear & ginger crumble

It's been almost an entire year since I've written in this space, and almost as long since I've baked anything at all! So much has changed in my life and today was the perfect day to bake, and write a little bit.

So many new things in my life...all of them good...but today I feel a little unsettled. All the things that are different now were things that I'd been praying for a very long time, but they've required a stretching of my faith in a new way. When you pray for things for a long time without any sign of change, your faith is built almost in the way muscle is built. You keep exercising the faith, trudging through what seems to be lifetimes of waiting on an answer, and little-by-little, your faith muscles grow until one day you look back and realize the strength that was built. But, blessings and answered prayers build your faith, too. Blessings have a way of stretching you. Of enlarging your territory. It's easy to get overwhelmed with doubts of being able to sustain the new. Specifically for me, it's been hard to find my place in this new season of overflow because I became accustomed to the desert season. Please don't misunderstand me. I am grateful for the breakthroughs that have come. I am also grateful that I am now experiencing God's faithfulness in a new way. I am discovering new things about him. I am uncovering that even in a season of blessing faith and character can be stretched. I'm amazed at how God has fulfilled my heart's desires, but how he has also shown me things that need to change. I hope I never get tired of discovering new things about him.

What does this have to do with pear crumble? Not a single thing. This space has become a place to document food (because it's fun and I love it), but also a place of remembrance. A place I can write  about what's going on in my life and then come back to as a way to remember how far i've come, and how faithful God is to me. 

Pear & Ginger Crumble (with Browned Butter)

recipe from Shutterbean

For the Pears

4 pears (I used Bartlett & Red) peeled & chopped

1/4 cup coconut sugar

1/4 cup light brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon flour

1 inch knob ginger, peeled and finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon salt

For the Crumble

1/2 cup butter, cubed

1 cup flour

1/3 cup coconut sugar

1/4 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup walnuts, chopped

Method

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. 

In a baking dish, combine chopped pears, sugars, cinnamon, flour, ginger, vanilla, & salt. Set aside.

Place cubed butter a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Allow butter to melt, then foam, then finally take off the heat when brown specks begin to form on the bottom of the pan. More information about browning butter can be found here. 

While the butter cools slightly, combine flour, sugar, oats, and walnuts. Pour butter over dry ingredients and mix together forming the crumble. Spoon crumble mixture over the pears and spread evenly over the filling. 

Bake for 35 - 45 minutes until filling is bubbling through the golden brown topping mixture.