Almond pear shortbread bars

Line a 9×9” pan with foil and grease with butter. Cooking sprays are the devil..in my opinion. Preheat oven to 350°F

Prepare the crust by slowly mixing all the crust ingredients in a large bowl using a pastry cutter or fork. The mixture will be crumbly. Press the crust in the prepared pan and bake for 15 minutes.

If pears are ripe and soft - Core and diced. If pears are tougher you will need to par cook them by doing the following: place the diced pears in a medium saucepan. Fill the pan with water so that half the pears are covered. Cook over medium heat, bringing to a boil then simmering for about 5 minutes until the pears just start to turn semi-translucent. Drain very well.

Stir together pears, sugars, cinnamon and cornstarch

Mix the topping ingredients together just as you did for the crust. It will be crumbly.

Remove the hot crust from the oven. Sprinkle the pears carefully on top (make sure they are well drained first – do not add any of the extra liquid!), then sprinkle with the topping. Bake for an additional 35-45 minutes until the crumble topping starts to brown.

Cool in pan completely before using foil to lift out.

Slice and serve.