Pear or Apple Brown Betty with Cake Crumbs

Say the words “warm fruit dessert,” and this brown Betty is what comes to mind—ripe seasonal fruit, baked with spices, butter and a few crumbs to soak up juices and crisp the surface. You usually find this made with apples; pears are, to my taste, even more interesting.

This is a basic formula; quantities are given for both moist pears (Anjou or Bartlett), or drier pears (Bosc) or apples. This should come to the table in its baking dish, topped with a thick blanket of buttery crumbs