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Pear Brown Betty with Ginger Ice Cream

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Makes at least 8 servings 1x

Time about 1 hour

Units Scale

Ingredients

  • 8 1-inch slices of brioche or sweet white bread like challah, cubed
  • 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter, cut into small cubes, plus more for greasing
  • 4–6 pears, peeled, cored, and sliced into 1/4-inch pieces
  • 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1/4 cup apple cider or water
  • 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

Instructions

  1. Heat the oven to 350°F. Spread the bread over a baking sheet and toast until dry, 5 to 10 minutes. Let cool, then transfer the bread to a food processor and process into coarse bread crumbs.
  2. While the bread is toasting, butter a deep-dish pie plate or a 13 × 9-inch baking dish. In a small bowl, combine the pears, sugar, spices, and salt. Pour the apple cider or water and vinegar over the pear mixture and toss to coat.
  3. Spread about about a third of the bread crumbs evenly over the prepared pie plate. Cover the crumbs with about half of the pears, then top with another third of bread crumbs. Spread the remaining pears on top and cover with the remaining bread crumbs. Cover with the cubes of butter. Tent loosely with foil.
  4. Bake for 30 minutes, remove the foil, and bake for 15 to 30 minutes more, until the pears are tender and the juices are bubbling out from the golden brown bread crumbs. Let cool slightly before serving (with Ginger Ice Cream, if you’d like.)

– How to Bake Everything