This easy and delicious pear, pomegranate, and plum crumble recipe is the perfect dessert for late summer and Autumn when pears and plums are at their ripest. The crunchy topping, made with oats, sunflower seeds, and walnuts, is simple to make and adds a satisfying texture.
We just harvested the last plums of the season before the temperatures dropped this week. Our sugar plums came early in summer, but they were unfortunately super wormy. However, we’ve gathered beautiful creeping plums, or Mirabelle plums, also known as “Kriecherl” in this region of Austria.
Picking them was a bit scrappy. We squeezed along the narrow space between our garden shed and the neighbor’s fence, where the tree grows along the outer wall. That part of the garden is no man’s land. It had become wildly overgrown with tall, stalky stinging nettles and we were subjected to clearing the area before the birds could pillage them like last year.
The itchy arms and burning hands were worth it, though, as these plums are a completely new varietal for me which I was excited to learn about and play with.
What are Mirabelle Plums?
Mirabelle plums originated in Lorraine, France, in the 15th century and are now found in Austria, Germany, Romania, and the Czech Republic. They’re also cultivated on smaller farms in California. These plums are a little larger than a cherry and about one-third the size of the black or red plums commonly found in grocery stores. They range in color from buttery yellow to rosy pink, while ours are a chalky blue-green.
Mirabelle plums have firm skins and a punchy sweet-tart flavor. They’re perfect raw or enjoyed with yogurt and muesli, dehydrated whole or into fruit leathers, roasted, stewed, and served as a topping for pancakes and Dutch Baby. When my mother-in-law visited, I made them into a crumble because 1) it’s simple and 2) a great way to celebrate seasonal fruit and also get through more of our pears as well.
The Pear, Plum, Pomegranate Crumble
I prepared the pear, plum, and pomegranate crumble ahead of time and let it rest in the fridge. Right before dinner, I popped it in the oven. She enjoys classic Austrian cuisine, and the classic crumble has British roots, so it felt like a great win when she loved it and requested it again! It held up perfectly overnight and tasted delicious cold the next morning.
Whether served warm for dessert or cold for breakfast, this crumble pairs wonderfully with ice cream, whipped cream, or a dollop of Greek yogurt.
The tangy plums, sweet-tart pomegranate, and natural sugar from the pears balance each other perfectly. The autumnal flavors of the syrupy fruit are complemented by the crunchy oat, sunflower seed, and walnut topping.
Fruits like pears, apples, peaches, and berries are naturally sweet, so I find added sugar unnecessary. While the crumble topping contains sugar, I highly recommend letting the natural sweetness of the fruit shine and skipping the extra sugar often found in other crumble recipes.
In this recipe, you’ll notice the fruit is measured by cups rather than quantity. This is because of the variation in size, along with cutting around bruises, wasp nibbles, and those sneaky little worms.
Pear, Plum, Pomegranate Crumble
Equipment
- 8x8 pan
- Mixing bowl
- Spatula
- Measuring cup
- cutting board
- paring knife
Ingredients
Topping
- ½ cup All Purpose flour
- ½ cup whole oats
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp salt
- 5 tbsp cold butter
- ½ cup sunflower seeds
- ½ cup chopped walnuts
Filling
- 1 pomegranate
- 2 ½ cups cored and chopped pears
- 2 ½ cups halved Mirabelle plums pitts removed or chopped plums
- 1 tbsp All Purpose flour or cornstarch
- ½ lemon juiced
- butter for coating the pan
Instructions
Crumble Topping
- Mix flour, oats, sugar, salt, cinnamon together in a mixing bowl.
- Cut or pinch off the cold butter in small chunks and press it into the mix with your hands. As you fold the cold butter in, you want the texture of the topping mixture to turn to look like gravel rocks and feel “crumbly.”
- Fold in sunflower seeds and chopped walnuts and mix in.
- *Make sure not to press the butter in too much and leave small bits of butter left.
- Put the crumble topping into the fridge and chill while prepping fruit.
- Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F or 180 degrees C
Fruit Filling
- Cut and deseed the pomegranate. Check out the tips for success link below for easy opening.
- Core and chop the pears into bite size pieces.
- Halve and de-pit the plums. If using black or red plums chop into bite size pieces
- Grease dish with 1 tsp butter.
- Add fruit to prepared baking dish.
- Squeeze ½ lemon over fruit.
- Add tbsp flour or cornstarch and mix with the fruit. (Cornstarch with make the fruit syrup more glossy looking).
Assemble Crumble
- Once well mixed, spoon crumble mixture on top of the fruit and cover evenly.
- Pop in oven and bake for 45 minutes or until the crumble mixture looks toasty and the fruit juices are bubbling through.
- Enjoy with a scoop of ice cream, whipped cream, or Greek yogurt if you are enjoying for breakfast.
Tips for Success
- Cold butter: The key to a perfect crumble topping is using cold butter, as it creates a flakier, crunchier texture.
- Pomegranate: To easily deseed the pomegranate, try this “Bon Appétit” method. You’ll have all the juicy seeds with minimal mess.
- Fruit choices: Feel free to swap the pears and plums with apples, peaches, or berries depending on the season.
- Topping choices: Stay flexible with your topping choices and use what’s on hand. Pecans, almonds, hazelnuts, cashews, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, or use walnuts and sunflower seeds as this recipe showcases.
Share the love and pics and let me know how you have enjoyed this pear, plum, and pomegranate crumble recipe.
