Gluten-Free Blackberry Pear Crisp Ginger

This super-simple gluten free pear crisp recipe is made with rolled oats, pecans, and maple syrup. It's naturally gluten-free and kissed with zingy fresh ginger and juicy blackberries. Adapted from Gluten-Free for Good by Samantha Seneviratne. 

This gluten free pear crisp recipe comes from a beautiful new book by one of my favorite authors Sam Seneviratne. Sam also contributes recipes to The New York Times, and I've had the pleasure of baking and styling some of her recipes too. Her new book Gluten-Free for Good: Simple, Wholesome Recipes Made from Scratch is a total gem.

This recipe uses no flour, only oats, in the topping, which is a great formula to have on-hand for times when the cupboard is bare of all the alternative gluten-free flours. If you're wanting a more classic topping, avail yourself of my almond flour crumble topping and apple crisp, or try my oat and almond flour crisp topping and blueberry crisp. Have a look through my library of crisp and cobbler recipes for more fruit dessert love.

But first, a wee rant.

Amazon reviewers are the worst:

When I was doing research for my book proposal, I came upon a lovely looking book on Amazon which had a poor rating. The book came from the UK, thus it only had a handful of reviews, one of them with only one star. As I read the review, it became clear that the reviewer had made an error that he then blamed on the cookbook author. "A cake recipe called for polenta, but the polenta was listed with the dry ingredients, which was wrong. I used the pre-cooked polenta in a tube. The cake batter was too wet and never baked - it was disgusting. This book stinks."

I wanted to grab that reviewer by his ignorant shoulders and scream "Polenta IS a dry ingredient, you moron! Only an idiot would buy precooked polenta in a tube to put in a cake when it was clearly listed as a dry ingredient. The book is fine - you're the one who stinks!" The fact that the review remained up, tarnishing the rating of the book, seemed a gross injustice.

I realized then that when my own gluten-free baking cookbook was published, I'd need to toughen up and be ready for annoying Amazon reviews (and take up kickboxing to get out my aggression, clearly).

"Don't read the Amazon reviews," more than one cookbook author warned me. But did I listen? I was thrilled to get my first positive reviews, calling Alternative Baker "My Baking Bible," "utterly gorgeous" and full of "jaw-dropping photographs, meticulously crafted recipes, easy-to-follow instructions, and tasty results." I was thrilled! Maybe I would manage to dodge psycho reviewers after all.

Alas, I was as naive as an inexperienced baker buying polenta for the first time. The first annoying review came in the other day, complete with 3 stars. "I guess there wasn't enough info when I ordered this. It seems every recipe I have looked at uses dairy. It's just Gluten free. Bummer, I will have to give it away." I found this incredibly frustrating because 1) there are several recipes in the book that are dairy-free, including 4 that are completely vegan, and vegan crust options for both the pie and tart sections that make it easy to convert those recipes to being dairy-free, and 2) nowhere does the book claim to be dairy-free, so there was no need for the reviewer to slam my book for their own mistake in purchasing a book that didn't meet their dietary needs.

I took some deep breaths, visualized floating down a quiet stream with the breeze in my hair and no pesky vegans, then wrote a (hopefully) calm and kind note back to the reviewer letting them know about the dairy-free recipes in the book, and explaining my rationale for including dairy in the recipes. Since the book already asks for 14 different flours, and many recipes are made with highly seasonal fruit, I wanted to keep the other ingredients as accessible and familiar as possible. I was also careful to keep plenty of nut-free options in the book, since many GF baking books use a lot of almond flour that can be difficult to substitute out for allergies, and I even included some naturally-sweetened recipes.

Luckily, all was not lost. Some kind soul also saw the reviewer's rating as unfair, and replied, "Like you I'm gluten and dairy free so I know it's hard to find recipe books that accommodate that. I haven't seen this particular book but from the cover and description it simply says 'gluten free' and makes no claims to be dairy free so I think your three star review is perhaps a little unfair? Most gluten free recipe books (unless they state otherwise) will use dairy, you just need to look out for that."

Boom.

Gluten Free for Good

Speaking of books that are gluten-free but full of (some) delicious dairy, I'm currently obsessed with Gluten-Free for Good by Samantha Seneviratne. Like me, Sam isn't 100% gluten-free, but her love of cooking and baking for everyone she knows drove her to rock some deliriously good GF recipes. The book is filled with stunning photos and streamlined, everyday fare, from breakfast through to dessert, all loaded with vibrant colors and flavors. Sam's baking recipes all use alternative grains and flours rather than relying on pre-fab baking mixes, and most recipes are free from gums as well, using psyllium powder instead. The book is mostly vegetarian, and it even has some dairy-free and vegan options. Paging through the book makes we want to run to the kitchen and cook every time I open it up. Which is a lot.

Elevated Gluten Free Pear Crisp

Sam's gluten free pear crisp exemplifies the recipes in GF for Good, with easy-to-source ingredients, a seasonal fruit base, streamlined instructions, and clean flavors. I added blackberries this time around, but the recipe is just as good without (and I bet pomegranate, cranberries, or poached quince could be tasty, as well). A dose of fresh ginger adds zing and acidity to the filling – just pears, maple syrup, and a little cornstarch.

The gluten free crisp topping is simply oats, nuts, brown sugar, butter, and just the right level of salt, and it bakes up into a topping that reminds me a bit of tender, clustery granola. In fact, this crisp works as well for breakfast with plain yogurt as it does for dessert with ice cream. I'm especially glad to have this recipe in my arsenal for when I don't have a pantry full of alternative flours at hand.

I've made this crisp twice, and Sam's hazelnut flour scones (they're super addictive), and I have a ton of other recipes bookmarked, including:

• Sweet Potato Spinach Hash
• A Simple Loaf of Bread
• perfect looking Cinnamon Buns
• Smoked Gouda Grits with Eggs and Arugula
• Creamy Breakfast Quinoa with Roasted Strawberries
• Roasted Kabocha Squash Soup with Gomasio
• Red Quinoa and Brussels Sprout Salad
• Rosemary Amaranth Crisps

and loads more. Gluten-Free for Good gets five stars from this reviewer!

*Bojon appétit! For more Bojon Gourmet in your life, follow along on Instagram,  Facebook, or Pinterest, purchase my gluten-free cookbook Alternative Baker, or subscribe to receive new posts via email. And if you make this gluten free pear crisp, I’d love to see. Tag your Instagram snaps @The_Bojon_Gourmet  and  #bojongourmet.*

5 from 4 reviews

Blackberry, Pear & Ginger Crisp {gluten-free}

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A stunningly simple fruit crisp with a granola-like topping that's naturally gluten-free, all kissed with the zing of fresh ginger.

Alanna Taylor-Tobin

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes minutes

Total: 50 minutes minutes

Servings: 6 servings

Ingredients

Filling:

• 1 ¾ pounds firm-ripe pears (such as Bartlett; about 4 medium)
• 12 ounces ripe blackberries, halved if large
• ¼ cup (60 ml) maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon peeled and minced fresh ginger
• 1 ½ tablespoons cornstarch

Topping:

• 1 cup (90 g) old-fashioned rolled oats (GF if needed)
• ¾ cup (80 g) chopped pecans
• ¼ cup packed (55 g) light or dark brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon fine sea or kosher salt
• 4 tablespoons (56 g) unsalted butter, softened
• ice cream, for serving

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

• Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 350ºF.
• In a large bowl, toss together the pears, blackberries, maple syrup, ginger, and cornstarch until well-combined. Scrape into an 8x8” pan or the equivalent.
• In another large bowl, combine the oats, pecans, brown sugar, salt, and butter, rubbing the butter with your fingers until the mixture forms large clumps. Sprinkle the topping over the fruit. Bake the crisp until the top is deeply golden and the fruit is bubbling, 35-45 minutes. Let cool slightly, then serve warm, with a scoop of ice cream if you like.

Notes

Adapted from Gluten-Free for Good by Samantha Seneviratne.

Nutritional values are based on one of six servings.

Nutrition

Calories: 383kcalCarbohydrates: 57gProtein: 4gFat: 18gSaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 20mgSodium: 202mgPotassium: 387mgFiber: 10gSugar: 33gVitamin A: 390IUVitamin C: 17.6mgCalcium: 69mgIron: 1.5mg

Making this? I'd love to see!Tag your snaps @The_Bojon_Gourmet and #bojongourmet!