Pear Gingerbread Cobbler

Well, part of being a good and godly wife, is filling our beloveds up with good food, right? :-) I have decided that it would be fun to share recipes as well as my thoughts, so here is the first one. This came from one of those little recipe magazines (which I am somewhat addicted to!). It was a fall baking magazine, I think put out by Land O Lakes ~ but I can't remember for sure, and I can't find it right now. I have tripled this recipe with good results, and it disappears at potlucks and at home! If you use large pears instead of med, it takes less, as you'll see in my note within the recipe. While it never would have occurred to me to combine pears with gingerbread, it is a wonderful flavor combination!

Pear Gingerbread Cobbler
1/3 C sugar
1 T cornstarch
6 C 1/2" slices of peeled pears (5 med.) ~ NOTE: When I tripled this, I just used 9 large pears in an 11x15?
3 T water
1 T lemon juice
Gingerbread Topping (below)

1. Heat oven to 375*. Mix sugar and cornstarch in large bowl. Add pears; toss to coat. Gently stir in water and lemon juice. Spread in ungreased rectangular baking dish, 11x7x11/2".

2. Bake 15 - 20 minutes or until mixture is bubbly around edges.

3. Meanwhile, make Gingerbread Topping. Drop tablespoonfuls of topping onto hot pear mixture.

4. Bake 15 - 20 minutes longer or until toothpick inserted in topping comes out clean and pear mixture is bubbly in center. Cool 20 minutes. Serve warm.

Gingerbread Topping
1 C all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice (I've just been using Nutmeg)
3 T packed brown sugar
1/4 C butter, melted
1/4 C molasses
1 egg, slightly beaten

Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice and brown sugar in med. bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients just until mixed.

We have served this warm with whipped cream. Yummy!