skinny & mini blackberry-pear crumbles

If you love fruit crumbles, but rarely indulge because of the high calorie content of butter and sugar, then I undoubtedly feel your pain. I decided that I shouldn't deprive myself of a dessert that has a warm, sweet, refreshing filling with a toasted oat topping, and neither should you. Oats are such a healthy grain, and crumbles don't have to be bad for you. Fruit contains natural sugar, so I didn't feel the need to add heaping amounts of granulated white sugar, as per regular crumbles. A little honey, lemon juice, your favorite paired fruit, and rolled oats can make your mouth just as happy.

Light, refreshing, and fruity are just a few reasons for making this a go-to dessert throughout the summer days. During a season where bathing suits become the norm, skinny and mini sounds entirely appealing.

Yield: 6 (mini) servings

Ingredients:

Filling

• 2 ripe pears, cored and diced. I used Bartlett pears, but I'm sure you could use Bosc.
• ~1 cup of blackberries, rinsed
• 1 1/2 - 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice (~1/2 a lemon) 
• 1 teaspoon of lemon zest
• 1 tablespoon of honey (or Sucanat sugar)
• 1/2 tablespoon raw agave*

*Note: If you don't have agave, it's not necessary to go out and buy it just for 1/2 tablespoon. You can substitute all honey. I used both because agave is slightly sweeter than honey, but I don't think it will make too big of a difference if you sub it out. You can also use Sucanat sugar in place of the honey, agave, or both. I explained here why I like to use Sucanat where applicable.

Oat Topping

• 1 tablespoon of whole wheat pastry flour (optional, but adds texture)
• 2/3 cup of old fashioned rolled oats
• 1/8 teaspoon of kosher salt
• drizzle of honey over each crumble

Note: For 6 regular ramekins or a medium-sized baking dish, my guess would be to double the recipe. I have only made this in my mini ramekins though, so I'm not 100% positive. For this recipe, it's more of a "if you like a lot of pear, then decrease the amount of blackberries" kind of thing, and vice-versa. Lastly, if you still only want to make 6 small servings, but do not have mini ramekins, then just use a small baking dish. For all of these instances, as long as you choose something that will hold all of the ingredients, then you will be fine :).

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Rinse blackberries, set side.

Peal the pears, slice them in half, and scoop out the core. Dice them into about 1/2 inch cubes. You don't want the pears to be too big for the mini ramekins.

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine diced pears, blackberries, lemon juice, lemon zest, honey, and agave (Sucanat if substituting.) Toss together until everything is evenly coated. Place filling into ramekins.

In a small mixing bowl, toss oats, flour, and salt together. Sprinkle over ramekins. Drizzle the oat topping with honey.

Place ramekins on a sheet pan and bake them in the oven for 35 minutes. The crumbles should be bubbling and the oats should be slightly browned when they are ready. Serve warm, or place left-overs in the fridge and warm them up later in the microwave.

I hope you enjoy these skinny and mini crumbles as much as I did! If you try them with different kinds of fruit, leave a comment and let us know how they turn out :)