Gingery Pear Fig Crumble Dessert Pizza by shenning

Note: This is my half of a monthly "Delicious/Nutritious" column I do with Megan Stuke. To see the full post, click here.

Pears! Pears! Pears! Man, I love them. In another life, I was probably a partridge, just lazing about in my pear tree, eating the ripe ones as fast as birdly possible.

Therefore, if this weren’t a recipe column, I’d probably say eating them out of hand was the very best recipe for a pear. I mean, they’re practically perfect on their own — sweet, juicy, tender and not cloying in the least.

But, because this is a recipe column, I figured I probably should dress up the pears in question. I thought about all the ways I love them (besides alone) — cut and dehydrated into little slivers, juiced with veggies, chopped into salads … yum. But I know not everyone has a dehydrator or juicer, so I threw those ideas out. And because I so often blog about salad on Lawrence.com, I feared I might sound (more) like a broken record if I went on and on about the virtues of salad yet again.

So, I decided to go for only a semi-broken record.

If you read my blog at all this summer, you may have noticed that I often rely on fresh foods and don’t turn on my oven all that often. As a busy mom, it just seems so much easier — and healthier — to chop up a few things (and make salad, naturally) than to choose something that requires cooking. Yes, I know this probably sounds nutso to some folks out there, but at this stage in my life, it’s what I prefer at home.

The same goes for desserts — I used to live to bake, but these days, I’d rather whip up something fresh in the food processor than fire up the stove. I’ve found that not only does this save tons of time (the recipe below will be ready to eat in 10 minutes, tops), it also tends to yield healthier treats — no white sugar or flour, no trans fats, no junk.

Thus, I give to you my long-in-name Gingery Pear Fig Crumble Dessert Pizza. It’s got a crust of figs, pecans and spices, a filling of chopped and pureed pears and more of the “crust” crumbled on top for a very yummy and healthy dessert/breakfast/snack.

Also, I was all set to call this one simply a “crumble,” but then I threw a pic of it up on Facebook to let the masses guess what the heck it was. My friend Chris guessed “cinnamon roll pizza” which was a pretty good try, based on what I posted. Therefore, I decided to add pizza to its name. Because, seriously, who doesn’t love pizza? (Probably people who don’t love pears, I imagine. Sheesh, weirdos.)

Gingery Pear Fig Crumble Dessert Pizza

4 ripe pears (I used D'Anjou)

2 cups dried white Turkish figs

2 cups pecans (or almonds)

2 tablespoons maple syrup

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon, divided

3/4 teaspoon ginger, divided

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 squirt lime

Pinch salt

Crumble: Tear figs in half and remove any tough stems. Place figs, pecans, salt, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ginger and nutmeg in a food processor.

Pulse until crumbly (don’t overprocess!).

Place all but 1 packed cup of the crumble into a 10-inch tart pan or 9-inch glass deep-dish pie pan.

Press the crumble into the pan to create a crust; set the remaining 1 cup of crumble aside to use for topping.

Filling: Roughly chop pears into 1/2-inch pieces and discard the stems.

Place 3 of the pears into the food processor (no need to clean it in between uses). Pulse until pears are roughly chopped into smaller pieces (you want them to keep some texture) and use a spatula to remove them to a medium bowl.

Place the remaining pear, maple syrup, vanilla, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon ginger and a squirt of lime in the food processor and process until smooth. Use a spatula to scrape the pear mixture into the bowl with the chopped pears. Use your spatula to mix the pears together. Spread the pears evenly over the crumble crust.

Top with the remaining 1 cup of crumble mixture. Serve immediately or put in the fridge to set up a bit more. Store in the fridge and use within 3 days.

Serves 8.