Asian Pear Cobbler Dessert

Fall is here and it’s not just apple season – it’s Asian pear season! So go find some and make this Asian pear cobbler dessert. I promise it does not disappoint.

Usually I make autumn desserts with apples, which are readily and abundantly available from many farms near us this time of year. But not this year. A very warm winter followed by a late frost in April destroyed much of the apple harvest in our region. So when we went on our annual apple picking excursion, the apple pickings were slim. However, the orchards did have beautiful, golden Asian pears (also known as apple pears).

Carmendy and Owen picked way more Asian pears than we could eat raw, so I branched out from my typical apple pie recipes and decided to try making an Asian pear cobbler. The results were delicious if I do say so myself.

Believe me, you’re gonna want to try this recipe. Especially if you like buttery fruit desserts. Bonus: it’s super easy. I’ve made this cobbler three times – you can whip it up quickly with just a few ingredients.

Along with the recipe, I’m sharing some photos of our adventure at the orchard. It’s always good to get outside for an afternoon of fresh fall air and yelling at the kids. 🙂

Here’s what you’ll need for the Asian pear cobbler:

Asian pears, peeled and sliced (I used about 6 Asian pears, but you can use more or less)
1 stick unsalted butter
1 cup flour
1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar, plus 1/4 cup sugar for topping
3/4 cup whole milk
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

First, peel and slice the Asian pears. Asian pears, aka apple pears, taste a lot like regular pears but are shaped like a round apple. Asian pears do not ripen once they are picked, so they must be harvested at the peak of ripeness. Ripe Asian pears are a golden amber or caramel color.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Place the butter in a 9 x 13 baking dish and put in the oven to melt the butter while it preheats. Keep an eye on the butter – you don’t want it to burn!

Then mix together the flour, salt, baking powder and 3/4 cup sugar.

Blend in the milk into the dry ingredients until smooth.

Evenly pour the batter mixture over the melted butter in the baking dish. It’ll look like a mess of butter puddles, but don’t mix the batter and butter together.

Next, tuck the Asian pear slices evenly into the batter/butter.

Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup sugar and the cinnamon over the pears.

Then pop it in the oven for an hour, until it’s a yummy golden brown on top.

Serve this cobbler warm. And with ice cream. You won’t regret it, just put the stick of butter and cup of sugar out of your mind.

And here’s a peak at our apple picking outing, because I can’t resist sharing photos of my kiddos.

Okay, so at first they didn’t seem so thrilled about our orchard outing:

But that’s just because they loathe my camera. I swear they had a grand time otherwise. I guess it was worth the exhaustion of running after two disobedient children through the rows of apple trees.

Happy fall, y’all!