Pear season is in full swing and I’m loving it! Southern Oregon is pear country and right now is the time to buy, harvest, or glean them. If you’re lucky you’ll end up with more than you can deal with! I remember one year the pear tree we had in our backyard of the house I grew up in was absolutely loaded with pears. Mom made freezer pear butter that lasted forever, which was awesome because it was delicious! Someday I when I have a ton of pears I will have to recreate that. For now, though, I’ve been addicted to this skillet pear and blackberry crisp!

Blackberries are also at the very end of their season right now, but I have to admit that the ones I used in this recipe were store bought. If it makes you feel any better, I did make many crisps over the course of the summer with our foraged blackberries and either pears, apples, peaches or nectarines. Also, I should add that any berry would work in place of the blackberries. Peaches and strawberries, apples and blueberries, nectarines and raspberries, any and all of these combinations will work! For this one, though, I used pears and blackberries.

Simple Fruit Dessert Recipes

Explore these other delicious fruity dessert recipes we love!

• Wild Berry & Nectarine Galette
• Plum & Lemon Upside Down Cake
• Blueberry Cornmeal Skillet Cake
• Peach & Blackberry Cobbler

Skillet Pear and Blackberry Crisp Recipe Notes

Whenever I’m making a recipe for a blog post, I’m always aware of the dishes that I use to make it look appealing for the internet (you know what I mean, right?). Anyways, I didn’t really have a great pan for this crisp, so I went searching at second hand stores like I usually do to find something cool, but still no luck. So I was about to use my crappy pan when a lightbulb turned on in my head… Hello, cast iron skillet! We are starting to acquire quite the collection of old and well seasoned cast iron pans, and use them for a majority of our cooking, but the thought never occurred to me before to make this crisp in one.

It worked out perfectly, but any other similar sized (8 or 9 inch) baking dish will work just fine.

Begin making the Pear and Blackberry Crisp by coring and slicing the pears.

Put the sliced pears in a large bowl and add the blackberries. Next, gently stir in the brown sugar, honey, cinnamon, and vanilla extract.

Put the macerated fruit into an 8-9″ cast iron skillet  or baking dish.

Preheat your oven to 375°F, then get together your ingredients for the awesome crumble topping. Cream together butter and brown sugar.

Then stir in the rest of the crumble ingredients. Distribute the crumble topping over the top.

If your baking dish is super full you may want to put it on a sheet pan before putting in the oven in case of bubbling over. Bake in the preheated 375°F oven for 30-45 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the fruit juices are bubbly. It should also smell wonderful!

Serve it up with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Sorry for the low light in this next photo, but this blog is about reality, so it was taken after dinner when it was dark out. There was no way we were willing to waste a serving of this crisp and ice cream just for a beautiful photo op before dinner!

Oh man, was this awesome! The pears were perfectly ripe and the blackberries were juicy and delicious. Topped with some organic vanilla bean ice cream, you really can’t go wrong! The whole thing screams summer and I love it! You should definitely make some variation of this as soon as you can.

Time to get your skillet pear and blackberry crisp on!

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5 from 3 votes

Skillet Pear and Blackberry Crisp

Fall is when pears are ripe - the perfect time to make this skillet pear and blackberry crisp!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

Cooling Time 30 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes

Servings 8

Calories 415kcal

Author Colleen @ Grow Forage Cook Ferment

Ingredients

US Customary - Metric

Fruit Filling

• ▢ 8 ripe pears or apples, peaches, or nectarines
• ▢ 1-2 cups blackberries or raspberries, blueberries, or strawberries
• ▢ 1/2 cup brown sugar
• ▢ 1 Tbsp honey
• ▢ ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• ▢ ½ tsp vanilla extract

Crumble Topping

• ▢ 4 Tbsp softened butter or coconut oil for dairy free
• ▢ ½ cup brown sugar
• ▢ ½ cup all purpose flour
• ▢ ½ cup rolled oats
• ▢ ½ cup finely chopped walnuts optional, but recommended
• ▢ ½ cup unsweetened coconut optional, but recommended
• ▢ ½ tsp vanilla extract
• ▢ ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• ▢ pinch salt

Instructions

Fruit Filling

• Core and slice the pears. 
• Put the sliced pears in a large bowl and add the blackberries.
• Next add the brown sugar, honey, cinnamon, and vanilla extract.
• Stir it all together and set aside to macerate (that’s when you mix together fruit with sugar and let it sit and get all cozy together).

Crumble Topping

• Preheat your oven to 375°F, then get together your ingredients for the awesome crumble topping.
• Cream together butter and brown sugar.
• Then stir in the rest of the crumble ingredients.
• Put the macerated fruit into an 8-9" cast iron skillet baking dish or cast iron skillet. 
• Distribute the crumble topping over the top.
• If your baking dish is super full you may want to put it on a sheet pan before putting in the oven in case of bubbling over. Bake in the preheated 375°F oven for 30-45 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the fruit juices are bubbly. It should also smell wonderful! Let it cool, then serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. 
  

Notes

• Serving Suggestion: Top with vanilla ice cream. 

Nutrition

Calories: 415kcal | Protein: 5g | Fat: 13g | Cholesterol: 15mg | Potassium: 428mg | Fiber: 10g | Sugar: 51g | Calcium: 50mg | Iron: 2.3mg