Makes 6 to 8 servings

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If you’ve ever made a recipe from any of The Silver Spoon collection of cookbooks, you know how informative they are. In the newest book The Chocolate Spoon, they take on one of our very favorite ingredients around these parts. Yup, you guessed it: chocolate! We’re thrilled to bring you this unique twist on a fall classic.

Ingredients

• 3 ounces (⅔ cup, 80 grams) raisins
• 1 ¾ fluid ounces (3 tablespoons, 50 milliliters) sherry or other dessert wine
• 4 decana pears
• 5 ounces (¾ cup, 150 grams) brown sugar
• 3 ½ ounces (100 grams) 80% dark chocolate
• 3 ½ ounces (scant 1 stick, 100 grams) cold unsalted butter
• 4 ounces (1 cup, 120 grams) type “00” flour or all-purpose flour
• 3 ½ ounces (1 cup, 100 grams) rolled oats
• 1 heaped teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Pinch of salt
• Chocolate gelato, to serve (optional)

Instructions

Make the Crumble

1. Soak the raisins in hot water for 10 minutes, then drain and combine with the sherry in a mixing bowl. Peel, core, and cut the pears into wedges. Add to the bowl with a third of the brown sugar, stir, and leave to steep for 30 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, coarsely chop the chocolate.

3. Preheat the oven to 400°F/200°c/180°c Fan/Gas 6 and lightly grease the baking dish with a little of the butter.

4. Arrange the pear wedges inside the baking dish and sprinkle over the chocolate. Cut the remaining butter into small cubes. Place the sifted flour, oats, remaining sugar, cinnamon, a pinch of salt, and the butter in a mixing bowl. Working quickly to ensure the ingredients do not become too warm, rub everything together using your fingertips until it resembles coarse bread crumbs. Do not overwork it or you will end up with a smooth dough instead of a crumb texture.

5. Spread the crumble evenly over the pears and bake in the pre-heated oven for about 45 minutes when the crumble should be lightly golden and the fruit soft. Leave to cool a little and serve, warm or cold, as desired, with chocolate gelato.

Mistakes to Avoid:

While baking this fruit crumble, juice from the pears may drip from the dish. To prevent any juice from falling to the bottom of the oven, burning, and smoking, line the oven rack under the dish with kitchen foil. The crumble will usually be done when the juice of the fruit starts to bubble out around the edges.

Excerpted from The Chocolate Spoon© 2023 by The Silver Spoon Kitchen. Photography © 2023 by Luca Colombo at Studio XL. Reproduced by permission of Phaidon. All rights reserved.