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Hazelnut Pear Crisp with Chocolate

October 13, 2020 by Alexandra Daum
This simple autumn pear crisp features hazelnuts, chocolate, and spices for a cozy and easy dessert. Vegan and gluten-free, it's a great dessert for everyone.
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Chocolate pear crisp with three scoops of ice cream.

Pears can be overlooked in favour of apples, but they’re a great autumn and winter fruit. Some varieties, like the one used here, are in season now but will last in cold storage into January, and others are meant to be stored for months before being eaten in the winter.

That means it’s a great fruit to choose from now right until spring if you live in the Northern Hemisphere, either to eat raw or baked into cozy desserts like this pear crisp! Depending on the type you choose you may have to cook it, so keep that in mind.

The combination of pear and chocolate is a classic, and with cardamom, vanilla, and caramel undertones from maple syrup and coconut sugar, this is the kind of dessert to make when the leaves start falling and snow (maybe) follows.

Hands scooping a spoon into the crisp.

Scroll to the bottom of the post or click “skip to recipe” above to see the recipe card with full ingredient measurements and instructions.

Ingredients

  • Pears
  • Maple syrup or date syrup (see substitutions)
  • Arrowroot or tapioca starch
  • Cardamom (see substitutions)
  • Vanilla
  • Dark chocolate
  • Oat flour
  • Rolled oats
  • Coconut sugar
  • Hazelnuts
  • Sea salt
  • Coconut oil
  • Non-dairy milk (I use oat milk)
Pear crisp ingredients.

Method

Preheat the oven and set a baking dish aside. Mine is about 22cm but a bit bigger or smaller is fine. Prep and chop the pears, and place them into the baking dish with the syrup, arrowroot, cardamom, and vanilla. Mix with a spoon to coat the fruit well, then stir in the chocolate pieces.

Crisp filling in the baking dish.

To make the crumble topping, add the flour, oats, coconut sugar, hazelnuts, and salt to a bowl. Mix to combine, then add the coconut oil and milk. Use a wooden spoon or your hands (I recommend using your hands) to mix until well combined.

Streusel topping, mixed.

Top the pear mixture with the streusel, trying to get as even a layer as possible. Use your hands to crumble it on to ensure evenness.

Pear crisp before baking.

Bake the crisp for about half an hour, or until the topping is golden and the filling is bubbling around the edges. Cool for at least ten minutes before serving.

Pear crisp in a square baking dish.

Tips and Notes

Adding milk to a vegan crisp topping mimics the make-up of butter, which has some water content. Using pure fat (just coconut oil) makes a greasy crisp that loses its shape during baking – the oat milk improves the structure, texture, and taste.

Serve this warm, with ice cream, if you can! Pictured is a hazelnut ice cream, sweetened with date syrup (so it’s a bit darker), based off of my coconut milk ice cream. When it’s still warm, the melted chocolate swirling through is fantastic.

It’s up to you whether you want to peel the pears or not. I don’t, but some varieties have a very tough skin that can be a bit unpleasant.

The pear variety I used here is Conference, a popular table pear developed in England in the 19th century. Use a type that you like the flavour of, because you will taste it here.

Fruit crisp in a small bowl with ice cream.

Substitutions

Use maple syrup, date syrup, apple, any kind of liquid sweetener you like. If it’s not important to keep the crisp vegan, honey is a good substitution. Cornstarch can be used in place of arrowroot or tapioca.

If you don’t like cardamom, use cinnamon, nutmeg, or another spice instead. Make sure you go with something that pairs well with the chocolate.

If gluten isn’t an issue, just use spelt or wheat flour. It can be subbed 1:1 for the oat flour in this recipe without any issues. Quick oats can take the place of rolled oats in a pinch, but the texture won’t be as good.

Leave the hazelnuts out if needed, or sub walnuts or sunflower seeds in their place. Brown sugar, especially light brown sugar, is a good substitution for coconut sugar, and others like maple, apple, or date sugar work as well.

More Autumn Desserts

Chocolate Hazelnut Tart
Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
Apple Crumble Cake
Healthy Baked Apples
Paleo Pumpkin Bread

Spoon scooped into ice cream topping the crisp.

Let’s connect! For more OE, follow along on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest, purchase the Occasionally Eggs cookbook, or subscribe for new posts via email. If you make this recipe, I’d love to see! Tag your instagram versions with @occasionallyeggs.

Yield: 6

Hazelnut Pear Crisp with Chocolate

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
5 from 2 votes

Ingredients

Metric – American
  • 1 kg pears, cored and chopped
  • 3 tablespoons maple syrup*
  • 1 tablespoon arrowroot powder
  • ¼ teaspoon vanilla powder or 1 teaspoon extract
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
  • 50 grams dark chocolate, chopped

Oat Streusel Topping

  • 120 grams oat flour
  • 50 grams rolled oats
  • 75 grams hazelnuts, chopped
  • 80 grams coconut sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon sea salt
  • 3 tablespoons coconut oil
  • 2 tablespoons non-dairy milk

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Set a baking dish aside (about 22cm or 9 in.).
  • Place the chopped pears, syrup, arrowroot powder, vanilla, and cardamom into the baking dish. Mix to coat the fruit evenly, then stir in the chocolate.
  • To make the streusel topping, add the flour, oats, hazelnuts, sugar, and salt to a mixing bowl. Stir to combine, then add the coconut oil and milk. Use your hands to mix until a crumbly dough forms.
  • Crumble the streusel over the pear mixture in as even a layer as possible.
  • Bake the crisp for 30-35 minutes, or until the topping is golden and the filling is bubbling around the edges.
  • Cool for at least ten minutes before serving.

Notes

* I used date syrup in the crisp pictured, but maple syrup is best (you can use other liquid sweeteners – see the substitution section).

Nutrition

Serving: 1g Calories: 467kcal Carbohydrates: 74g Protein: 7g Fat: 15g Saturated Fat: 5g Polyunsaturated Fat: 9g Cholesterol: 1mg Sodium: 100mg Fiber: 9g Sugar: 33g
© Alexandra Daum
Course: Desserts
Cuisine: American
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This post was originally published in January 2016. It has been updated with a re-tested recipe, new text, and new photos as of October 2020.

More Desserts:

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Dark chocolate coated popsicles on parchment paper with flowers and berries, one cut to show interior.Dreamy Peanut Butter Banana Popsicles
Rhubarb lemon cake on a cake stand.Lemon Rhubarb Cake
Close up of chocolate covered date caramels, one bitten in half.Date Caramels

Previous Post: « Sweet Potato Latkes
Next Post: Roasted Cauliflower Tacos with Refried Beans »

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Comments

  1. Oliwia Pierowicz says

    November 11, 2020 at 9:07 pm

    gorgeous, my mother and i loved it <3

    Reply
    • Alexandra says

      November 12, 2020 at 8:29 am

      Thank you, Oliwia, I’m so happy to hear that : )

      Reply
  2. Allthingsloveli says

    February 9, 2016 at 2:06 pm

    This crumble sounds perfect. I usually reserve crumble making for the fall with my apples but the pear and hazelnuts sound ideal for this time of year.

    Reply
  3. Alison Borgas says

    February 9, 2016 at 3:35 am

    Loving the gorgeous pics and story, and of course, the flavour combos… will try this when winter comes again here.

    Reply
  4. [email protected] Friendly Homemaking says

    February 2, 2016 at 9:07 pm

    Wow this looks so delicious!

    Reply
  5. Hannah | The Swirling Spoon says

    February 1, 2016 at 1:56 am

    Ooooh… I have a batch of failed cashew butter granola that looks exactly like this crumble and have been looking for a recipe where I can put it to use – this is a great idea! Plus pear and chocolate is forever the best food pairing.

    Reply
  6. Traci | Vanilla And Bean says

    January 31, 2016 at 4:07 pm

    I'm loving this simple but indulgent crisp, Alexandra! I love how chocolate does that to desserts… makes it feel indulgent when really, it's sooo good for us (so long as it's dark, high quality chocolate… even superfood!). Thank you for this my dear!

    Reply

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