Light Pear Apple Crisp

Last night Nate and I went to our coworkers house for dinner and I volunteered to bring dessert.  My go-to dessert is usually homemade brownies (and they are ridiculously good), but since Nate and I are both watching our calories and I knew my coworker and her husband are too I decided to nix the brownies and go for something healthier.

Just so you know a healthy dessert is hard to find!  Finally I settled on a peach cobbler but then I realized I didn’t have enough peaches. I switched to pears and then decided to add apples too—just to keep things interesting.  The result is a recipe that is low calorie, light, and delicious. It’s simple enough to whip up in a few minutes and good enough for company.

Light Pear Apple Crisp

Serves 6

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup canned pears (in light syrup) cut into slices

1 medium granny smith apple, peeled, cored, and chunked

1 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

1 Tablespoon cornstarch

3 Tablespoons white sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/3 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons chilled butter

1/3 cup rolled oats

Directions

Place pears and apples in 8×8 baking dish.  Drain pears of most of the juice, but it’s okay to leave about 1/4 a cup or so.  Add lemon juice, cornstarch, sugar and 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon and stir into the apple/pear mixture.  Use a food processor to combine flour, 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon, salt and brown sugar. Cut butter into small pieces and pulse in food processor with flour mixture until fine crumbs form.  Remove from food processor and add oats.  Spread the crumb topping evenly over the pears and apples.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Nutritional Information: Calories: 170. Carbs: 29. Fat: 6. Protein: 2.

This crisp got great reviews at our dinner—top it with a little light whipped cream or a small scoop of vanilla ice cream for some extra delightfulness!