Refined Sugar Free Pear Berry Crisp with Almond Milk Ice Cream

The last few days here in Michigan have been feeling less and less like summer, much to my sadness.  I still have Brooklyn's weather info on my phone, so I have been torturing myself with seeing the beautiful (most of the time) much warmer weather.  Sigh.  It can still be warm in the evening, not making me want to turn the oven on too much, but I bought these gorgeous pears from the farmer's market last Saturday and wanted to use them up before they became too soft.  My mom also has some wild blueberries (that she and my dad picked themselves) and some garden-picked raspberries in her freezer, so this seemed like the perfect thing to make.  Add in some delicious almond milk ice cream I found at the local coop on sale, and a perfect, not too sweet dessert comes into play!

I really like that this dessert is not too sweet, because the ice cream ended up being pretty sweet on its own, so it was a great contrast.  I think next time I will add a little more starch or maybe even a tablespoon or two of the unbleached flour to thicken it up.  Either way, it was tasty and hit the spot.  Mom even liked it, which surprised me, because she is a sweets-aholic!  Also a chocoholic.  Kind of disturbingly so, actually.  I didn't get that gene, but no worries, I love all kinds of other sweets!  So make this and enjoy it as a nice, refined sugar free treat in these still warm evenings.


Refined Sugar Free Pear Berry Crisp:



Warm Pear Berry Crisp with Almond Milk Ice Cream

 

Fruit Part of Crisp:

1 cup apple juice

juice of 1/2 lemon

4 pears, peeled, cored and diced

1 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch sea salt
2 1/2 tablespoons tapioca starch
1 cup raspberries

1/2 cup blueberries

Crumb Topping:

1 cup unbleached wheat flour

1 cup rolled oats

pinch nutmeg

pinch cinnamon

pinch sea salt

4 tablespoons maple syrup

4 tablespoons apple juice

3 tablespoons melted, refined coconut oil

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly oil an 8x8" baking pan with spray oil and set aside until ready to use.

2.  In a medium sized pot, combine the pears, apple juice, lemon juice, vanilla extract, sea salt and tapioca starch.  Stir together very well until completely combined.

3.  Place over medium heat and stir continuously until the mixture thickens considerably.  Add the blueberries and raspberries and mix into the warm fruit syrup.  Place it into the prepared baking dish.

4.  In a medium baking bowl, add the dry ingredients of the crumb topping: the unbleached flour, rolled oats, nutmeg, cinnamon and sea salt.  Mix together well.
5.  Into the same bowl, add the wet ingredients: the maple syrup, apple juice, refined coconut oil, vanilla and almond extract.  Mix together dry and wet ingredients with your hands until the mixture becomes a nice crumbly topping. 

6.  Crumble the topping onto the prepared fruit mixture into the baking dish.  Be sure to cover as much of the fruit as possible.

7.  Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes, or until the fruit and topping are cooked through.





The Crisp fresh out of the oven





8.  Try to wait at least 5-10 minutes to scoop up a portion of the crisp, top it with some delicious almond milk ice cream, or whatever kind of non-dairy ice cream you prefer. 





Warm bowl of deliciously lightly sweetened Crisp.



Enjoy!

Koko