A warm dessert is not what I typically gravitate towards. I’m a huge fan of ice cream so I tend to lean on the cold end of the heat spectrum when it comes to after meal indulgences. I tend to make desserts that can be whipped up fast and served immediately.
While we were in Missoula, Montana visiting my sister to celebrate our birthdays – and also to film our interview for Minimalism Film – I made this warm fig & pear dessert…and you guessed it! Served it in a bowl. :)
A Trip To The Past: Poppa’s Garden
My sister has a pear tree in her backyard. This is something we would never have had growing up in the suburbs of Chicago. Our grandpa had 1 acre of land and had a backyard garden where he’d grow what seemed like endless rows of fresh vegetables. Every time we’d visit we would always go straight for the peas and eat EVERY. LAST. ONE. He also had a crabapple tree, grapes and in the back forties – that is the way way back of the yard where you couldn’t even see the house from – there were wild blackberries and raspberries that grew. But never did we see pears or plums.

When we arrived in Montana her plum and pear trees were in full bloom! It was so exciting to pull the fruit from the tree, although because they were so ripe they were falling to the ground and had to be harvested before they went bad. So she was inundated with pears and plums. Not too bad a problem to have, if you ask me. ;)
Our friend Ryan and his girlfriend Mariah were coming over to have lunch with all of us (Jeff, Dave & I) and as I prepared a big ass salad I also threw a few fun ingredients into the cast iron skillet. I decided to make use of some of those pears that were sitting around the kitchen.
This pear and fig in a bowl was the result. I served everyone a tiny taste of this Warm Fig & Pear dessert to finish off our meal.