Pear Cranberry Slump

No, I'm not having difficulty thinking of pear and cranberry recipes; it's not that kind of slump.  I am well acquainted with crisps and cobblers, but I've been missing out on their cousins with funny names--slumps and grunts.  According to my KAF cookbook, slumps and grunts are like submerged cobblers, usually made by bringing fruit to a simmer in a large cast iron pot, then dropping biscuit like dough on the top and steaming it.  Sounds like a good camping dessert to me.  This particular one is actually made in the oven, though.  Not only did I get to experiment with my first slump, I also got to use barley flour for the first time.  I was very culinarily stoked, and while Daniel was excited about eating it, he didn't seem to quite be able to comprehend why trying something new was so fun.  For you other food geeks out there, hopefully you'll understand.

The recipe originally called for dried cherries, but craisins were what I had handy so I used those.  For those of you wondering where in the world I found barley flour, I found it where you can find all things--Amazon.  If you are interested in cooking with whole grain flours on a regular basis, you can either order from King Arthur Flour, or Amazon.  I like the KAF flours best, but they aren't cheap, and neither is the shipping.  However, Amazon has every flour you can think of:  oat, spelt, barley, rye, whole wheat pastry and bread flour, even whole wheat berries if you have an urge to grind your own.  I haven't gone that hard core yet.  In addition to having all of them, you can usually find them with free super saver shipping to boot, and when you're buying several pound of flour, that can save you a lot of money.  Don't forget to store your whole grain flours in the freezer to prevent spoiling.  If you don't want to buy barley flour, I think buckwheat flour, which you can find in most grocery stores, would be a decent substitute.

Dumplings
1 cup whole barley flour
1/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1 tea. baking powder
1/2 tea. cinnamon
1/4 tea. salt
3 T butter (since there isn't much butter in this, I actually used the real stuff)
2 T brown sugar (I actually used dark brown sugar because I wanted some of that molasses flavor)
grated zest of 1 orange
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk (skim worked fine)

Filling
4 large pears (I used bosc), peeled, cored, and sliced
1/2 cup dried cherries or cranberries
1/4 cup sugar (again, since there's so little, I didn't bother doing half Splenda)
1/4 cup orange juice (I got that much from the orange I zested previously)
pinch of ground cloves

Syrup
1/2 cup water
1/4 Splenda brown sugar blend (or 1/2 cup regular brown sugar)
2 T butter
1/4 tea. ground nutmeg

To make the Dumplings:  Combine the flours, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in the bowl of a food processor.  Add the butter cut in pieces and pulse until all the butter is like coarse meal in the flours.  Add the brown sugar and zest and do another quick pulse to incorporate.  Dump into a mixing bowl.  Lightly beat the egg and pour over the flour mixture with the milk.  Mix gently with a spatula until just combined.  Let the dough rest while you prepare the filling and syrup.

Preheat the oven to 350.

Filling:  Mix the pears with the rest of the filling ingredients in a large bowl and then pour into a greased 8 inch square pan.

Syrup:  Place all ingredients in a small saucepan and heat until sugar is dissolved and butter is melted, stirring frequently.

Drop the dumpling dough on top of the fruit by the spoon full.  You don't have to cover the whole top, you want there to be space between the dallops of dough so that the fruit can bubble up through the cracks and over the dough a bit.  Pour the syrup over the top to moisten the dough.

Bake until the dumplings are golden brown and the fruit is bubbly and starting to thicken, about 40 minutes.  Let cool at least 10 minutes before serving.  I felt this needed a bit of whip on the top, but then I think everything needs a bit of whip.