Pear-Cranberry Crisp with Cinnamon Ice Cream

We did a dress rehearsal for this dessert for Thanksgiving this week but without the cinnamon ice cream, and it was delicious. It was so good we each had it for breakfast on another day. I know, breakfast is quite unconventional in our house, but if you think that's unconventional wait until you hear what Thanksgiving dinner is going to be - A Kitchen Clambake! We'll try to take pictures but the kitchen will be crowded with five adults around our island, in the center of which will be a huge turkey platter filled to overflowing with seafood. A photo may be a challenge.

In the meantime, this crisp was so easy and delicious, I'm sharing the recipes with you now, in case you want to add it to your Thanksgiving line up. The ice cream could just as easily be store-bought vanilla but homemade cinnamon ice cream simply "gilds the lily".

Pear-Cranberry Crisp
Makes 8 Servings

3 pounds ripe Anjou pears (about 5), peeled, cored, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 cup fresh cranberries or frozen, thawed
½ cup sugar

1¼ cups all purpose flour
½ cup finely ground walnuts
¼ cup (packed) dark brown sugar
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ cup sugar
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted & cooled
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Preheat oven to 350℉.
Toss pears, cranberries, and ½ cup sugar in a large bowl. Let stand 15 minutes.
Transfer mixture to 11x7x2-inch glass baking dish.
Mix flour, ground walnuts, dark brown sugar, ground cinnamon, and ¼ cup sugar in medium bowl.
Add butter; using fork, stir until moist clumps form.
Sprinkle topping over fruit in dish.
Bake crisp for 45 minutes.
Increase oven temperature to 375℉. Bake until golden brown, about 5-10 minutes.
Cool slightly. Serve warm with ice cream.

Cinnamon Ice Cream
Makes about 7 cups

3 cups whole milk
1¼ cups sugar
1 cup heavy cream
5 cinnamon sticks
⅛ teaspoon salt
12 large egg yolks
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Combine milk, 1 cup sugar, cream, cinnamon sticks, and salt in heavy saucepan.
Bring almost to simmer over medium-high heat.
Whisk egg yolks and ¼ cup sugar in a large bowl.
Gradually whisk in hot milk mixture.
Return custard to saucepan and stir constantly over low heat until custard thickens, about 4 minutes (do not boil).
Transfer custard to large bowl set over another large bowl od ice water; let cool 30 minutes, stirring often.
Cover and chill custard overnight
Strain custard.
Process in ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions.
Transfer ice cream to container; cover and freeze.