Pear Blueberry Crisps (gluten free of course!)

These desserts are a long time favorite of my clients..they are crispy, chewy and buttery…mmmmm….

1 cup fresh blueberries

4 fresh Bartlett pears

2 T. sugar

5 slices Ezekiel bread

3 T. honey

1 T arrowroot

1/3 t. ginger

a few drops of brandy extract

4 T. organic butter

1 cup pear nectar

1)  Cut Ezekial bread in small cubes, toast in oven until crisp. toss with butter .
2)  combine pears, cut in small cubes, with honey, ginger, arrow root, brandy extract and nectar.

3) caramelize sugar in dry pan on stovetop;  Use a small, clean, dry saucepan. Put a half-cup of sugar in the pan and stir slightly to allow the sugar to rest in an even layer on the bottom of the pan. Turn the burner on to medium heat. Add a little water to the pan and stir constantly with a wooden spoon. You can include anything you typically use with candy making in this process. Keep scraping down the sides of the pan to keep the sugar cooking consistently.  Stir the mixture until it reaches a boil. Swirl the pan around to keep the syrup moving until it begins to turn amber brown. Take the pan from the heat just before it has reached the desired color. If you are making a dark brown caramel or are worried about over-cooking, put the pan in an ice bath after removing it from the burner. This will stop the cooking process immediately.

3)  Butter muffin tins, pour in caramelized sugar and let it sit until it hardens.  Then strain pears, retaining liquid, toss bread cubes with 2/3 of the liquid. line bottom of each tin with one layer of bread cubes, top with one T. of pears,  1 teaspoon of blueberries, then more bread cubes. it will stick up above the top of the tins. drizzle the remaining pear nectar on each  "muffin".

4)  In a 350° preheated oven, place the tins on middle shelf, cover with foil, put a cookie sheet on top with something heavy on top to weigh the crisps down.   5)  bake for 30 minutes, then remove whatever you have sitting on     top and bake 10 more minutes. cool COMPLETELY before removing from tins or they will fall apart.