About This Recipe
This crumble pairs pear pieces and whole fresh cranberries under an oat topping sweetened with honey, not just sugar. Honey goes into the fruit filling and into the crumb, so the flavor runs through the whole dish.
The topping starts as cool butter rubbed into flour and rolled oats, then honey is worked in to form coarse clumps. Bake until the filling bubbles at the center, not only at the rim, and let it cool before serving.
Recipe
Honey Pear Cranberry Crumble Recipe
A baked pear and cranberry crumble with honey in both the filling and a cool-butter oat topping. Firm pears, tart cranberries, and coarse honey-sweetened clumps.
11Ingredients
Yield: 6 servings
- 600 g pears, cored, skin on
- 150 g fresh cranberries
- 63 g honey for the filling
- 42 g honey for the topping
- 80 g all-purpose flour
- 60 g rolled oats
- 70 g unsalted butter, cool, divided
- 10 g cornstarch
- 15 g lemon juice
- 2.6 g ground cinnamon
- 1.5 g table salt
Ingredient amounts scale; instructions show the original batch. Cooking times and pan sizes may need adjustment. Season to taste. Honey grams use US measures at 20°C and 17.5% moisture, a density estimate; weigh your honey for precision.
Instructions
- 1Heat the ovenHeat the oven to 350 F (175 C). Take 5 g from the measured 70 g butter to grease an 8 inch (20 cm) square baking dish; keep the remaining 65 g cool for the topping.
- 2Make the fillingToss the pear pieces and cranberries with the cornstarch, cinnamon, salt, lemon juice, and 63 g honey until evenly coated. Spread in the dish.
- 3Rub the crumbCut the remaining 65 g cool butter into the flour and oats with your fingertips until coarse and pebbly. Drizzle in the 42 g honey for the topping and toss until coarse clumps form. Keep the mixture loose rather than kneading it into a paste.
- 4Top and bakeScatter the crumb over the fruit in an even layer. Bake 40 to 45 minutes, until the filling bubbles at the center and the pears are tender.
- 5Cool before servingCool for 20 minutes before dividing into six servings so the hot fruit juices can settle. The 85-minute total includes preparation, up to 45 minutes in the oven and cooling. Refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours, or sooner in a hot room, following the linked chilling guidance.
Estimated nutrition per serving
299.75 calories · 10.43 g fat · 51.61 g carbohydrate · 3.35 g protein · 101.57 mg sodium
Serving: 1 of 6 servings
Calculated from ingredient weights and USDA FoodData Central: 169118, 171722, 169640, 168894, 173904, 173430, 169698, 167747, 171320, 173468. Estimates use ingredient input weights; actual portions, brands and cooking losses vary. Omitted nutrient values are unavailable, not zero.
Why the fruit is weighed after coring
The 600 g is edible pear weight: pieces after coring, with skin left on. Cores and stems are trimmed away and not counted, so a scale settles the amount better than counting pears, since sizes vary.
Skin stays on for texture and to help the pieces hold shape as they bake. Cut the pears into roughly even pieces so they soften at a similar rate.
Flavor intensity uses an editorial culinary scale: 1 is mild and 5 is bold. These are tasting suggestions, not laboratory measurements.
Sources: Using Honey in Cottage Foods (UC ANR); USDA FoodData Central: edible pear reference; 4 Steps to Food Safety (FoodSafety.gov).
- Weigh pear pieces after coring, with the skin on.
- Weigh the cranberries rather than relying on a cup count.
- Cut the pear pieces to a similar size for even cooking.
Pro Tip
A kitchen scale removes the guesswork when pear sizes differ.
1 = mild, 5 = bold. Editorial pairing guidance, not laboratory measurements; jars vary.
- Clover
- Pear and oat topping
- Wildflower
- Cranberry and cinnamon
- Orange blossom
- Fruit and lemon juice
Get the Honey Buyer's Cheat Sheet (free PDF)
16 varieties on one page — color, flavor, best use and what a fair price looks like — from the 304 honeys we track.
Ripe-firm pears and the longer bake for underripe fruit
Ripe-firm pears give way under light pressure at the neck and hold their shape when baked. Very soft pears collapse into the juices, while hard, underripe fruit stays firm and needs more time.
If the pears feel hard, add 10 to 15 minutes of baking and check the center, not the rim. The crumble is ready when the filling bubbles at the center and a pear piece yields to a knife.
- Ripe-firm pears: check at 40 to 45 minutes.
- Hard, underripe pears: add 10 to 15 minutes.
- Test a center pear piece, not just the topping color.
Pro Tip
Browned topping alone does not mean the fruit is done.
Honey in the filling and in the topping
Honey is split between the two parts: 63 g stirred into the fruit and 42 g into the crumb. That keeps honey in both layers instead of leaving it as a drizzle at the end.
Honey is slightly sweeter than sugar, so it carries the sweetness here without a separate sugar topping. It also browns faster than sugar, which is why the bake stays at 350°F and the center is checked.
- 63 g honey in the filling with the fruit.
- 42 g honey drizzled into the rubbed crumb.
- No honey drizzle added after baking.
Pro Tip
Weigh each honey portion directly into its own bowl to keep the filling and topping amounts separate.
Building a coarse oat crumb
Reserve 5 g butter for the dish, then use the remaining 65 g cool butter for the topping. Rub it into the flour and oats until the mixture looks coarse and pebbly, then drizzle in the honey and toss until clumps form. Warm butter turns the crumb into a paste.
The flour and oats give structure; the honey adds sweetness and moisture. Scatter the clumps loosely rather than pressing them flat so the topping keeps some crisp edges.
- Cool butter, cut into small pieces.
- Rub into flour and oats until pebbly.
- Add 42 g honey, then toss into coarse clumps.
Pro Tip
If the crumb feels warm and greasy, chill it 10 minutes before scattering.
Baking, cooling, and how it differs from honey apple crisp
Bake at 350°F (175°C) until the filling bubbles at the center and the fruit is tender. A browned rim can appear before the middle is cooked, so check the center.
Cool 15 to 20 minutes before serving; this rest lets the juices thicken. This is not an apple crisp: the filling is pear and cranberry, and honey appears in both the filling and the oat topping.
- Bake at 350°F (175°C), checking the center.
- Cool 15 to 20 minutes before serving.
- Pear-cranberry filling with honey in both layers.
Pro Tip
Refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours and reheat gently.
Choosing the Honey
Use Clover honey or Wildflower honey or Orange blossom honey for the flavor described in this recipe. See our honey selection guide for other culinary choices.
