Pear Cranberry Crisp
A healthy pear and cranberry crisp with a gluten-free oat and almond meal topping. This warm, simple dessert is perfect for cold days!
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 29, 2024
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I have Friendsgiving on my mind. Not Thanksgiving and its boring, beige, turkey-mashed-potatoes-and-gravy plates, but the boozy Thanksgiving-with-friends edition that we call Friendsgiving. Friendsgiving features turkey, of course, but also offers many colorful, vegetarian sides and at least two pies. At least.
I’m attending two Friendsgivings this year: one this weekend and one the next, which will be shortly followed by the real Thanksgiving with my family. I’ll be rolling into December in my stretchy pants.
I thought I’d share this pear and cranberry crisp in time for your Friendsgiving(s) and Thanksgiving feasts. No, it’s not pie, but it’s fresh, simple and gluten free. The recipe is based off this summer’s popular strawberry rhubarb crisp. I filled it with fall-appropriate pears (apples would also be great) and tart cranberries, which sweeten up as they bake. I also mixed in some walnuts, brown butter and spices for even more fall flavor.
I wanted to be able to share this dessert with my gluten-free friends, so I searched around for gluten-free topping substitutions. I found my friend Dana’s recipe, which had similar proportions and called for almond meal instead of wheat flour in the topping. So simple!
Now then, to peel or not peel the pears. That is the question. I did not peel my pears. However, I later wished that I had peeled the pears because I found the texture of the skin to be a little distracting. My friends did not. I’ll say it’s up to you, but I would peel the pears if I were you. I think a vegetable peeler would be the easiest way to go about it.
Gluten-Free Pear Cranberry Crisp
Honey-sweetened pears and cranberries with a gluten-free oat and almond meal topping. Feel free to substitute apples for the pears if you prefer. This simple dessert is perfect for holidays or any cold day, really!
Ingredients
Pear cranberry (or apple) filling
- 4 large Bartlett pears or Granny Smith apples (about 2 pounds), peeled, cored and sliced into small bite-sized pieces
- 1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
- ⅓ cup honey
- 2 tablespoons arrowroot starch or 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
Gluten-free walnut, oat and almond meal topping
- 1 cup old-fashioned oats (certified gluten-free if necessary)
- ½ cup packed almond meal or almond flour
- ½ cup chopped walnuts
- ⅓ cup lightly packed brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 3 tablespoons plain yogurt (Greek or regular)
Don’t forget the vanilla ice cream!
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a 9 by 9-inch baking dish, mix together the pears (or apples), cranberries, honey, arrowroot or cornstarch, lemon juice, ginger and cinnamon.
- Optional: brown the butter for a more complex flavor. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Swirl the pan by the handle often so the butter doesn’t splatter. Continue to heat the butter, swirling frequently, until you see little brown flecks in the bottom of the pan (this will take about three minutes).
- In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the oats, almond meal or flour, walnuts, brown sugar and salt. Mix in the Greek yogurt and browned butter (or melted butter). Stir until all of the flour is incorporated and the mixture is moistened throughout.
- Dollop spoonfuls of the oat mixture over the filling and use your fingers to break up the mixture until it is evenly distributed (no need to pack it down). Bake until the filling is bubbling around the edges, the top is turning lightly golden and most of the cranberries have burst, 40 to 55 minutes. Let the crisp rest for 5 to 10 minutes before serving. Serve with vanilla ice cream, I insist.
Notes
Adapted from Minimalist Baker’s gluten-free strawberry nectarine crisp and my strawberry rhubarb crisp.
Make it nut free: Omit the walnuts and use ¾ cup whole wheat flour and ¾ cup oats instead of the almond meal and oats specified above. It will no longer be gluten free. If you want to keep it gluten free, I suspect that you could replace the almond meal with oat flour or more oats (haven’t tried that, please comment if you do!).
Make it dairy free/vegan: I believe you could use melted coconut oil in place of the browned butter/yogurt (use 4 tablespoons coconut oil and add up to 3 more, until the topping mixture is moistened throughout) and maple syrup instead of the honey. I haven’t tried it, though.
What’s arrowroot starch? Arrowroot starch is a great thickener to use in place of corn starch, which is often genetically modified. It’s gluten free, too. Look for it in the baking section of well-stocked grocery stores or buy it online.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
I made the gluten free pear cranberry crisp and it was fantastic! I have made your apple crisp before and it was very good. Too. Thank you! I’m celiac and love these recipes. How do I get a copy of them? Are they in one of your cookbooks? For some reason I’m unable to print them.
I’m glad you loved this one! You can print these off the blog. You need to make sure you allow the pop-ups as once you click the print icon, it will open a new tab. I hope this helps, Virginia!
Make this every year for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Delicious for dessert or breakfast.
What a great dish to have during the holidays! Thanks for sharing, Sarah.
Wow this looks amazing! I love the pop of color from the addition of the cranberries.
Thank you!
Would I be able to assemble this ahead of time, freeze it, and then reheat it, or would it lose a little something? If freezing is an option, what would you recommend for reheating?
I haven’t tried so I’m not exactly sure. I would be concerned about the crisp getting soggy. If you do try, I would reheat in the oven so you can maintain the crispy.
This crisp is perfect!! I typically make your apple crisp, but I had a surplus of pears. I used comice pears and substituted rhubarb for the cranberries because I needed to use up some rhubarb. I think I would have preferred the cranberries. I now know to use your topping no matter what goes underneath!!
I made this for the first time a few weeks ago and then decided to have it as my birthday “cake” a few days ago. It was a perfect healthier alternative and everyone loved it!
The first time I made it I used pears and corn starch and I felt like there was actually too much corn starch. The second time I made it with Granny Smith apples and no thickener and it was perfection!
Yum!
So so so delicious!! I’ve made this a few times this fall and it’s been enjoyed by all every time. Thank you! I recently discovered your website and everything I’ve made has been fabulous!
Great recipe! Thanks! Made it last night for a friend get together! I had CRAISINS so I dropped the honey down to 1/4 cup and cornstarch to 2 tablespoons. Worked great!
And I made it NUT FREE (sort of) by using shredded coconut for both the walnuts and almond flour. I ground a bit using my immersion blender. Served it at a girls night and toddler play group and a brunch (with plain Greek yogurt as apposed to the vanilla ice creami served at the others). Always a hit!
Thanks again!!!
You’re welcome! Thank you for sharing, Edie.
I made the blueberry crisp last week, which was excellent. I left the yogurt out of the topping and I really liked the way the topping came out. I didn’t love this pear crisp for two reasons: there wasn’t enough liquid in the fruit filling, so the pears never really softened completed, even though it was in the oven for 55 minute; and also, this time I included the yogurt in the topping and it came out too clumpy.
I tried this recipe because I had cranberries in my freezer. I made the apple version and it was a hit. So much so that I wrote the recipe down in case it one day is removed from the internet.
I made this today for our once a week healthy dessert. It is fabulous. I followed the directions except I used coconut oil in place of butter, and coconut sugar in place of the brown sugar…it did not compromise the flavor. A winner!!
This was a hit with my family – especially my kids- even my middle kid who doesn’t like a lot of fruit outside the typical apple, oranges and bananas. I had small pears so used for a few more – so glad you added weight too. Loved additional of yogurt instead of more butter. Thanks!
This was delicious! I used half honey half maple syrup in the filling, and used pecans instead of walnuts. Very yummy as a change up from the usual apple crisp in the cold months.
Looks beautiful and looks tasty as well!
Question re: the flour
My friend has a gluten allergy and almond and….chick pea… and tapioca allergy (goodness). Can I use rice flour for this recipe instead?
Thank you!
Kelly
Hi! I haven’t tried it, sorry. Maybe oat flour, but I can’t say for sure without trying it.
I have a 5 year old son with Celiac disease so I am always on the hunt for good gluten free recipes. The whole family loved this dish and we didn’t even have ice cream with it. Thanks for sharing this truly delicious recipe : )
I’m delighted this one was enjoyed, Jenny! Thank you for your review.
have made this before and it was amazing. I am going to make it again but I need to do as much as this as possible in advance. how would you do it? What can I do ahead of time?
Thank you!
Hi Ann, I haven’t made it ahead of time. You could try mixing the topping ahead of time. I would caution mixing the filling to far ahead of time though so the starch doesn’t clump.
I made this with granny smith apples and it is delicious! I may be eating some for breakfast right now, topped with plain greek yogurt rather than ice cream :)
Thank you for sharing, Amy!
I LOVE this recipe. It’s the perfect blend of sweet and sour. All my friends and neighbors who have had it, love it, too. It’s challenging to find yummy cranberry recipes, and this does the trick! One tip– pears that aren’t very ripe leave a crunchier texture. I prefer ripe pears, because they’re sweeter. Both are good.
I’m glad you loved it, Martha! Thank you for your review.
Great opportunity to use the fruits I had–I did pears and apples, mixed, since I didn’t have enough of each. Made 9 servings, great with ice cream. Very popular.
Great to hear, Patty! I appreciate your review.
1st attempt at a gluten-free crisp, easy peasy. the only minus is waiting for the crisp to cool.
Can I make this in advance
It’s best right away. Let me know if you try it!
My store had zero fresh cranberries– not even frozen! I improvised by adding a cup of canned whole cranberry sauce and omitted the honey since the cranberry sauce has sugar in it. Needed to use up some pears and this solution worked very well in a pinch! Probably better with fresh cranberries though. Will try doing that next time. It was delicious anyway.
Thank you for your review, Allie!
I made this recipe twice this weekend (once for a dinner party and once for my family) and it was terrific both times! I did not have any gluten sensitive eaters and so used regular flour and it worked great. I did peel my Bosc pears, but would probably have left the skin on if I had used green pears. Everyone loved the sweet with the tart and I even had several people who rarely eat dessert take seconds!
Yum! Didn’t want to go the honey route, so I used 2 Tbs. brown sugar in the filling and switched the cinnamon and ginger amounts. I had GF quick oats, so I used those in the topping (love how the texture turned out with them as opposed to old fashioned oats) and was out of yogurt (!), so I used sour cream instead. just about perfect. In fact, I think this is the best crisp topping I’ve ever had! Can’t wait to try it on other fruits.