Pear and Chocolate Crumble

I love to eat dessert, particularly fruity desserts and you can't beat a good crumble. This dessert is so easy to make and tastes so good, particularly with the added chocolate and nuts. I made this for a dinner party a few years ago and really impressed my guests. It's a nice touch to make them in small individual ramekins, so you can give each guest their own dish. I sourced this recipe from the Waitrose website.


Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do.














Serves: 6

Ingredients

1kg (4-5) ripe pears, peeled, cored and chopped into 1cm pieces (or I now use tinned pears (approx 4 tins), it tastes just as good and is much easier)
Grated zest and juice of 1 unwaxed lemon
100g milk chocolate, roughly chopped
50g light brown soft sugar

For the crumble

100g plain flour
50g butter, chilled and diced
50g light brown soft sugar
50g Chopped Hazelnuts or pecans

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C, gas mark 4. Grease 6 x 250ml oven proof teacups or ramekins. (Don't use your finest china cups.) In a medium bowl, mix together the pears, brown sugar, lemon zest and juice, and half the chocolate. Divide the mixture between the teacups or ramekins, spooning over any juice.
2. To make the crumble, place the flour and butter in a medium bowl and, with your fingertips, rub together until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar, nuts and remaining chocolate.
3. Spoon the crumble over the pears and press down lightly. Place the crumbles on a baking tray and bake for 35-40 minutes until golden and bubbling. Serve with a spoonful hot custard or vanilla ice-cream.

Cook's tips To make the crumble in a food processor, place all the ingredients - except the chocolate - in the bowl and pulse until just combined. Then stir in the chocolate. You can make the crumble topping the day before and placed in the fridge until ready to cook.