Crisps and crumbles—they are one and the same—were always a favorite in our family, and I miss having them on a regular basis. But I found it’s very easy to make just one portion in a small casserole dish (I use an onion-soup bowl).

　　

Ingredients

1 just-ripened, firm pear

　　2 teaspoons sugar

　　1 tablespoon water

　　Freshly grated nutmeg

　　

Topping

1 tablespoon butter

　　3 tablespoons flour

　　3 1/2 tablespoons sugar

　　

Garnish

Heavy cream

　　

Step 1

Peel the pear, core it, remove the seeds, and cut it into rough pieces. Toss the pieces with the sugar in the small baking dish, and sprinkle water over them. Grate a little nutmeg on top. Make the topping by cutting the butter into small pieces. Rub the butter, flour, and sugar together through your fingers until crumbly. Scatter this mixture over the pear, and bake in a preheated 375° oven for 40 minutes. If the topping is not as brown as you’d like it, slip the dish under the broiler to brown lightly. Eat warm, with some heavy cream or a spoonful or so of the creamy top of yogurt.

　　

Variations

Step 2

You can, of course, make this dish with apples, and rhubarb is good, too. In both cases, particularly with rhubarb, you will need to add more sugar to the fruit.

　　The Pleasures of Cooking for One by Judith Jones. Copyright © 2009 by Judith Jones. Published by Knopf. All Rights Reserved.Judith Jones is senior editor and vice president at Alfred A. Knopf. She is the author of The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food and the coauthor with Evan Jones (her late husband) of three books: The Book of Bread; Knead It, Punch It, Bake It!; and The Book of New New England Cookery. She also collaborated with Angus Cameron on The L. L. Bean Game and Fish Cookbook, and has contributed to Vogue, Saveur, and Gourmet magazines. In 2006, she was awarded the James Beard Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. She lives in New York City and Vermont.