January is a very dark month – and I finally figured out why. In December, even though it starts getting dark at 3:30pm, there are tons of lights everywhere – to celebrate the holidays. All of a sudden in January, the lights start disappearing, although it is still getting dark very early. Top that with the fact that most of the time it is raining – sometimes I look out my window at 3:00pm, and it already looks like it is time to be heading home. Fortunately for me – I absolutely love it. I love that it gets dark so early – for some reason I get a lot of energy when it gets dark early – I feel even more productive because it looks like you should be going to sleep, but I am still getting stuff done. I know – I am a glass half empty girl most of the time – except in the winter.
Winter is also the time when I want to be home baking. I love filling the house up with all those wonderful scents – but I am still a little fixated on fall – and can’t seem to move past it. It also doesn’t help that there are still tons of beautiful looking pears at the market – and apples galore, living in Washington State. So – I told you about one of my New Year’s resolutions about getting more sleep – but I neglected to talk about the other one I have…more dairy-free baking.
My husband has been dairy-free for quite a while now, and it seems to be working well for him. Of course there are certain things that require that buttery taste – and substitutions will just not work – but I am on a quest to make delicious dairy-free baked goods for him this year. Needless to say, he is very excited about 2014.
I knew that this recipe would be a winner, since I had already experimented with the Apple Crisp – but I must say – the addition of pears made this even better. Now that I think about it – I should have added some cranberries in as well – so maybe you can try that out. Even without dairy, the possibilities are truly endless on how to spend your time in these dark winter months. Now get to work!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup firmly packed golden brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 2 pounds Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, sliced
- 1 1/2 pounds Pears, peeled, cored, sliced
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled Earth Balance sticks, cut into pieces (or butter, if you can eat dairy)
Preparation
Preheat oven to 450°F. Butter 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish. Combine brown sugar and cinnamon in large bowl. Add apples, pears and lemon juice, and toss to coat. Transfer apple mixture to prepared dish.
Combine flour, 1 cup sugar and Earth Balance in a medium bowl. Using pastry blender or fingertips, blend ingredients until coarse meal forms. Spread flour mixture evenly over pears and apple mixture.
Bake crisp 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F. Bake crisp until apples are tender and topping is golden brown, about 30 minutes. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.
For a printer-friendly version of this recipe, please click here: Pear and Apple Crisp
First Look, Then Cook 
This looks absolutely mouthwatering! Crisps are my favorite, and I love the pear apple combo.
such a perfect crisp….just the thing needed to make this time bright and sunny,thanks for sharing :-)
This sounds so good Dawn! Apples and pears – brilliant!!! I never would have thought of that, yet it’s so seemingly simple. By the way – we just finished up the last of your jams. They were a huge hit with all four of us. :) Thank you again!