Pear & Macadamia Nut Crumble

It may seem that all I am doing is eating sugar & butter laden sweets lately but that is not true, its just that my dinners have not made it to the blog world. For instance this week Michael was in NZ on business for a few days so I ate food from my freezer that I had cooked before (not horrible package meals), or food my mum made for me. I did also make a big batch of my tomato & lentil soup. So here is this weeks sweet fix, this is a great crumble recipe that really stands out, in part due to the spiciness of the pears & secondly the addition of macadamia nuts really make this one a winner. The recipe comes from Surfing the Menu.

Pear & Macadamia Nut Crumble

8 Williams pears, peeled, cored & quartered
100g caster sugar
finely grated zest & juice of 1 orange
1 stick of cinnamon
1 vanilla pod, split in half lengthways

Crumble
280g plain flour
125g caster sugar
100g roasted & crushed macadamia nuts
125g butter, softened

Vanilla ice cream, to serve

Place the pears in a medium saucepan with the sugar, zest, juice, cinnamon & vanilla bean. Cook, covered over a moderate heat until the pears are tender, but not mushy, about 20 minutes. Remove the cinnamon stick & vanilla pod.

Preheat the oven to 170c & grease an ovenproof dish (30cm x 8cm & 8cm deep). Spoon the pears into the prepared dish.

For the crumble, combine flour & sugar & nuts in a bowl. Add the butter and using your fingers, rub in until evenly distributed. Scatter over the pears & transfer the dish to the oven. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown on top. Serve warm with ice cream.