Gluten-Free Vegan Caramel Pear Crisp
This Caramel Pear Crisp is a decadent and deliciously spiced dessert that’s perfect for the holidays. The caramel pear filling is spiced with cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and vanilla bean, and topped with a crunchy almond flour and pecan crisp topping. Don’t forget to serve this gluten-free, paleo, and vegan crisp with some whipped coconut cream!
Hi friends! How’s the Thanksgiving planning going, since we’re only two days out from the big day?! I’m still reeling with how fast this year has gone by, and I’ve barely planned a thing for my family’s Thanksgiving festivities.
Thankfully for me, I’m a little off the hook this year. Normally, I end up in charge with at least all the dessert and a few sides. But, this year, my sister and I are splitting our time between my dad’s family and my mom’s family. That means I just need to make sure there are some GF + vegan treats for the two of us.
One thing is for sure though: this Caramel Pear Crisp is definitely on the menu for us. I developed the recipe this past weekend for my own Thanksgiving meal. Upon tasting it, I decided I needed to get it photographed and posted so you too could enjoy this goodness for your own holiday feast. :)
Apples get a lot of love this time of year, but pears, despite their delicious juiciness, tend to get left behind. I’m guilty of it too. SO, I decided to make pears the *star* of this dish and give them the love and attention that they deserve.
What kind of pears are best for this crisp?
I used a combo of Anjou and Bartlett pears for this crisp. This crisp is best with a variety of pears to get a variety of textures and flavors. I wanted to use a few Bosc pears for the firmness, but none were ripe at the store. Luckily, the two varieties I did use provide incredibly fresh flavor and an amazing texture. The Bartletts break down, creating a delicious sauciness in the crisp, while the Anjous retain their shape and some firmness.
You’ll make a quick caramel-like sauce to coat the pears in. You’ll sweeten it with maple syrup and coconut sugar, and spice it up with cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom. The warm, earthiness of the cloves along with the lemony cardamom and fragrant vanilla bean makes the perfect pairing here. Together, they complement the pear and caramel flavors wonderfully.
Once you’ve tossed the pears in the caramel sauce, you’ll pile them into a casserole dish and top them off with a paleo crumble topping. The crisp topping doesn’t use any oats. Instead, we use chopped flaked coconut to recreate the texture of the oats and pecans for nutty crunch.
You’ll bake it until golden and bubbling, and then it’s ready to serve!
What’s the best way to serve it?
I like to serve it warm from the oven. However, you can let it cool and store in the refrigerator until you’re ready to serve if you want to make it ahead of time. IT reheats well in the oven, or the microwave in a pinch.
Whenever you serve it, make sure you serve it with vanilla ice cream or whipped coconut cream. Then, top it off with a big healthy drizzle of the three-ingredient no-cook caramel sauce. I hope you love this decadent caramel pear crisp as much as I do! Enjoy :)
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Caramel Pear Crisp
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 65 minutes
- Yield: 10 servings 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This Caramel Pear Crisp is a decadent and deliciously spiced dessert that’s perfect for the holidays. The caramel pear filling is spiced with cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and vanilla bean, and topped with a crunchy almond flour and pecan crisp topping. Don’t forget to serve this gluten-free, paleo, and vegan crisp with some whipped coconut cream!
Ingredients
- 2 pounds fresh pears, I used a mix of Anjou and Bartlett, peeled, cored and sliced into 1/4” slices
- 1/4 cup coconut oil or ghee, I used 4th & Heart’s Vanilla Bean Ghee, use coconut oil to keep vegan
- 2 tablespoons (14g) tapioca flour
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1/2 cup coconut sugar
- 2 tablespoons (42g) maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon cardamom
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
For the crumb topping
- 1 cup (96g) almond flour
- 2 tablespoons coconut flour
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon cardamom
- 1/2 cup flaked coconut, chopped into bits
- 1/4 cup (84g) maple syrup
- 1/4 cup coconut oil, softened (texture similar to softened butter), use refined for no coconut flavor
- 1/4 cup pecans, chopped
For the caramel sauce
- 1/2 cup cashew butter
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1/3 cup coconut oil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9” square or round casserole dish with coconut oil. Set aside.
- Place the sliced pears in a large bowl. Melt the coconut oil or ghee in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Whisk in the tapioca flour to form a paste and then whisk in the water, coconut sugar, maple syrup, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, and vanilla extract. Bring to a boil and let simmer for 3 minutes to thicken and melt together before removing from heat and pouring the caramel sauce over the sliced pears. Toss to coat all of the pears, and pour into the prepared pan.
- For the crumble topping, combine the almond flour, coconut flour, cardamom, cinnamon, flaked coconut, maple syrup, coconut oil, and pecans in a mixing bowl. Stir until the dry ingredients are completely moistened and then crumble evenly over the pears.
- Place the pie on a baking sheet and bake 45-50 minutes or until the pears are tender and the crisp is bubbling, and the crumble is golden brown on top. Tent with foil if the pie starts to brown too quickly!
- For the caramel sauce, whisk together the cashew butter, maple syrup, and coconut oil. Microwave for 30 seconds, or until the ingredients are melted together, and whisk to combine.
- Serve warm or let cool before serving with caramel sauce. I recommend serving with dairy-free vanilla ice cream or whipped coconut cream. Keep any leftovers stored in the refrigerator.
So, this is in my oven right now, and I’m sure it will be tasty, but I must say, putting it together turned out to be more of a production than I’d thought . I had to start the caramel sauce three times. The first two times, the tapioca flour immediately separated from the oil into snake-like threads that never merged with the oil.
The third time, I did it like this: I melted the coconut oil and then let it cool a bit, then added the water, then, while the pan was still off the heat, I began to whisk in the tapioca flour. Once the oil had absorbed as much of the flour as it could while off the heat, I put the pan on the slowest burner possible and then whisked in the rest. It did hold together this way, finally.
Also, in the topping, I was unsure what “softened” coconut oil meant. I took it literally, and softened it in a small pan on the warm stovetop, without using a burner. The top of the oven was warm from pre-heating, that heat “softened” it.
It was about as soft as applesauce when I added it to rest of the crumble mix, but I wonder if this was what you meantm, because what I ended up with was a topping that was not very crumbly — it was more the consistency of cookie dough. I bet you meant to melt the coconut oil. I think that might’ve made it more crumbly.
Anyway, this was my experience. Hope it helps others who try the recipe. Cheers.
Sorry you had trouble, Donna. I made this recipe 5 times in the past few weeks and the tapioca always incorporated without issue into the oil, so not sure what the problem was for you. Thanks for sharing how you made it work in case anyone else experiences that, though. As for softened coconut oil, it should be a similar texture to softened butter, not melted at all, but not super cold and firm. Melting it would make the crumble topping far too oily, as you experienced with your cookie dough-like crumble. Hope you still enjoy it!
HI!
I happened to scroll down after mine was in the oven as well and came across the comments! I started with the ghee and had to make the caramel sauce with 3 tries as well! It was not incorporating and turning very clumpy and sticky. I did turn the heat down and ended up using a gluten free measure for measure flour, rather than the tapioca and it was much easier to deal with. I also had trouble with the water clumping, so I ended up eliminating and it came out fine in texture mixed with the juicy pears! It smells delicious and I am looking forward to enjoying it! I had to rate it 3 stars, only based on the difficulties I had using the exact measurements that were provided. Thank you!
Hi Francesca – thanks for the feedback, so odd as I’ve never been able to replicate that issue, but I’ll try it again and adjust the recipe to make it more foolproof.
Hi! What is a good substitute for tapioca flour in this recipe? I am on a low carb diet – tapioca flour is high in carbohydrates. Would you recommend replacing the tapioca flour with xanthan gum or agar agar or psyllium husk? (This is what I have in the house right now)
Hi Mara, I would just use more almond flour. None of those are good flour substitutes!
Wow, my vegan daughter said this was one of the best deserts she has every had. We non-vegans thought it was pretty good too. I did have to do some subs – cassava flour instead of vegan and corn starch instead of tapioca because I didn’t have either of those in my pantry. I used coconut oil instead of ghee since, once again, I did not have any. All fo the subs seemed to work great. I melted the coconut oil (just barely) and it did not seem overly oily to us. And Donna, I did not have any trouble getting the corn starch to mix with the coconut oil. Made my own cashew butter and it was great. All in all. a great dish that I will make again.
Thanks so much for the wonderful and helpful feedback, Ron! I’m so glad you all enjoyed it.
Hey, around how many pears is 2 punds?
Hi Ilana, that totally depends on pear size, but on average, it’s about 6-8 medium-sized pears.