Pear crisp

My friend gave me an entire bag of pears. She picked them from her Aunt's tree and had so many she didn't know what to do with them.  I started thinking what to do with all of these yummy pears.. Thinking, pear tart, pear crumble, pear pie, pear & applesauce, then it hit me..Pear crisp... It is fall and I love all things topped with a crisp topping, you know butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, oats, & a little flour... Heavenly, goodness right there... I made it just like I make apple crisp and voila.. perfection.. so darn good... I invited my friend over and she said oh my gosh..this is soo good... love hearing that :)  so use what you have.. pears, apples etc.. it's all good.. enjoy
**NOTE** These pears were small and not very ripe, a little on the hard side still, so I baked them extra longer & used a little extra sugar.  If your pears are RIPE, cut down on the sugar & total baking time..

Pear crisp

10-12 small pears
3/4 cup sugar
2 T. lemon juice
1 T vanilla
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t ginger (I used the spice kind from McCormicks)


Topping

1/3 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup oats
2/3 stick butter, softened
pinch of salt
1/2 t cinnamon


Preheat oven to 375.  Spray baking dish with nonstick spray.  Wash, peel and core pears.  Chop into medium dice, place in large bowl. .  Add sugar, vanilla, lemon juice, 1 t cinnamon & ginger and stir to combine well. Pour into baking dish. 

In another bowl combine flour, sugar, oats salt & cinnamon.  Mix well.  Add butter and with fork mix until combined and crumbly resembling the size of peas.  Sprinkle over pear mixture.  Bake for around 40-45 minutes (***see NOTE).  Check with inserting fork into a pear and when the pear is soft, and the crisp is bubbly and light golden brown, remove from oven... Serve (can top with ice cream. or whipped cream) optional.