Cozy Apple & Pear Crumble
Faster than apple pie, with similar flavor
ID 214452189 © Natabene | Dreamstime.com
From Weeknight Winners, Family Dinners: Kid-Approved, Adult-Loved Recipes by Jack and Emmy Zhang, founders of @CookingForLevi (Simon Element, 2026)
For the Filling
- 3⁄4 lb (about 2) Granny Smith apples or other good baking varieties, such as Honeycrisp or Cortland, peeled, cored, and sliced into 1⁄4-inch thick slices
- 3⁄4 lb (about 2) D’Anjou, Bosc, or Bartlett pears,peeled, cored, and sliced into 1⁄4-inch-thick slices
- 1⁄2 c dark brown sugar
- ⅛ tsp ground nutmeg
- ⅛ tsp ground ginger
- 11⁄2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1⁄2 c quick oats
For the Topping
- 1⁄2 c all-purpose flour
- 1⁄2 c dark brown sugar
- 1⁄4 tsp kosher salt
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- Vanilla ice cream for serving, optional
1. Preheat oven to 375°.
2. Make filling: In a large bowl, combine apples, pears, brown sugar, nutmeg, ginger, and cinnamon. Toss until fruit is evenly coated with spices and sugar.
3. Spread oats in an even layer across bottom of an 8x8x11⁄2-inch baking dish. Spoon apple and pear mixture evenly over oats, making sure to distribute fruit across entire dish. Set aside while you make crumble topping.
4. Make topping: in a medium bowl, whisk together flour, brown sugar, and salt. Pour in melted butter and use a spatula to stir until small and large clumps form. Sprinkle crumble topping evenly over fruit mixture.
5. Bake crumble and finish up: Bake for 35 minutes or until apples and pears are soft and bubbling and topping is golden brown. Let cool completely at room temperature before serving with vanilla ice cream, if you like.
6. Keep in the refrigerator, tightly wrapped, for up to 5 days.
Cooking Tips: This apple and pear crumble is a quick and easy alternative to apple pie. It takes much less time than a pie to come together because you don’t need to fuss around with pie dough. Pears cook similarly to apples; using them here gives more complexity to the filling’s texture and flavor without straying too far from the familiar flavor of traditional apple pie.
Per serving (without ice cream): 236 Calories, 3 g Protein, 15 mg Cholesterol, 43 g Carbohydrates, 25 g Total sugars (17 g Added sugars), 4 g Fiber, 7 g Total fat (4 g sat), 80 mg Sodium, ★ Vitamin B1 (thiamine)
Jack and Emmy Zhang
Jack Zhang is a chef who has cooked at casual and upscale restaurants and for NFL players in the Buffalo, New York, area. With his wife, Emmy, he launched Cooking for Levi, the wildly popular online cooking channel featuring their now four-year-old son, Levi. Along the way, fans learn recipes and tips for developing both a love of food and cooking as well as language in a kid. Jack was born in Guangzhou, China, and raised in Brooklyn. Emmy Zhang earned her MA in child development from the University of Buffalo, where she also earned an undergraduate degree in applied linguistics. A native of Buffalo, she is a writer and English professor.
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