Pear Tonka Crumble with Chocolate Cacao Nib Bordier Butter

A crumble is only as good as the butter you rub into it. This one uses Bordier's chocolate and cacao nib butter, which turns the usual sandy topping into something closer to a cookie crust, with bitter nibs against sweet baked pear. Tonka bean grated over the fruit does the work that vanilla would normally do. Twenty-five minutes of prep, twenty in the oven, and it goes together in one bowl.

Why this works

Bordier's chocolate and cacao nib butter arrived in 2024 as a seasonal flavour: 68% Ghanaian cocoa worked into hand churned Breton butter, with roasted cacao nibs kept whole. In a crumble that combination earns its place twice. The cocoa gives the topping colour and a dry bitterness that keeps the sugar in check, and the nibs stay crunchy through the bake, so the crust has real texture rather than just going sandy and soft.

The method is the standard rubbing-in technique, and the temperature of the butter is the whole game. Room temperature butter broken into small pieces and worked into the dry ingredients coats the flour in fat without forming gluten. You stop when the mixture looks like coarse breadcrumbs, with lumps of different sizes. Uniform crumbs bake into a flat sheet. Uneven ones bake into the craggy, golden top you actually want.

Ingredients

Serves four, baked in individual ovenproof ramekins. Almond powder is the same thing as finely ground almond flour.

Ingredient	Metric	US
Williams pears	2	2 (Bartlett)
Bordier Chocolate and Cacao Nib Butter	50 g	1.8 oz, about 3 1/2 tbsp
All-purpose flour	50 g	1.8 oz, about 6 tbsp
Almond powder (almond flour)	50 g	1.8 oz, about 1/2 cup
Sugar	50 g	1.8 oz, about 1/4 cup
Tonka bean	1	1

Method

Step 1: Fill the ramekins

Heat the oven to 190°C (375°F). Peel the pears and cut them into large slices, then arrange the slices in ovenproof ramekins. Grate a little tonka bean over the fruit.

Step 2: Rub in the crumble

Combine the flour, almond powder and sugar in a bowl. Add the butter at room temperature, broken into small pieces, and rub it through with your fingertips until the mixture has the texture of coarse crumbs.

Step 3: Bake

Cover the pears with the crumble mixture and bake for around 20 minutes, until golden brown.

Tips from our kitchen

• Work the butter cool, not cold. Take it out of the fridge 20 to 30 minutes ahead. Fridge-cold butter will not rub in and you end up pressing it into a paste. Butter that has gone greasy and shiny has passed the point where it can hold air, and the topping bakes flat.
• Stop rubbing before it looks finished. The mixture should be loose and uneven with some pea-sized lumps. If it starts clumping into a dough you have gone too far, and the crust will bake hard rather than crumbly.
• Grate the tonka bean sparingly. It is powerful, closer to almond and vanilla with a hay note behind it, and a few passes on a microplane is genuinely enough for four ramekins. Tonka is not widely sold in US grocery stores. If you cannot find one, half a scraped vanilla bean plus a light grating of nutmeg sits in roughly the same place.
• Do not skip the ramekins for one big dish. Individual portions give you a higher ratio of crust to fruit, and they bake evenly in 20 minutes. A single deep dish needs longer and the centre stays pale.
• Judge by colour, not the timer. The cocoa in the butter makes the topping dark to begin with, so watch the edges: they should be visibly crisp and the fruit juices bubbling up around them.
• Rest for five minutes before serving. Straight from the oven the pear juice is scalding and the crumble has not firmed up. Five minutes on the counter fixes both.

How to serve it

Warm, in the ramekin, with cold cream poured at the table so it runs into the cracks in the crust. Creme fraiche works if you want the acidity, and plain vanilla ice cream is the easy answer. This is also a good way to meet Bordier's flavoured butters if you have only cooked with plain butter before, and our French churned butter collection is where to look next once you know what the difference tastes like.

Where to buy Chocolate and Cacao Nib Bordier Butter in the US

The French Pantry ships Bordier butter across the United States in insulated overnight packaging, straight from the workshop in Brittany.

• Churned Seasonal Chocolate and Cacao Nib Butter by Bordier (4.4 oz): hand churned butter with 68% Ghanaian cocoa and whole roasted cacao nibs.

It is a seasonal flavour, so if it is not available browse the Maison Bordier collection for the rest of the range.

Frequently asked questions

How much butter should I buy for this crumble?

You need 50 g, which is 1.8 oz. Bordier blocks are 4.4 oz (125 g), so one block covers this recipe twice with a little left over.

Can I use a different Bordier butter?

Yes. The Madagascar vanilla butter makes a lighter, sweeter crumble that pairs just as well with pear. Unsalted or salted Bordier both work if you want the fruit to lead.

What can I use instead of Williams pears?

Williams is sold as Bartlett in the US, so look for that first. Any ripe but firm pear works. Avoid fruit that is soft enough to bruise under a thumb, since it will collapse into liquid under the crumble.

Can I make the topping ahead?

Rub it together up to two days ahead and keep it in a sealed container in the fridge. Scatter it over the fruit straight from cold and add a couple of minutes to the bake.

How should I store the butter?

Wrapped, in the coldest part of your refrigerator, used by the date on the pack. It freezes well for a few months if you wrap it tightly.

Does Bordier butter need refrigeration?

Yes. Bordier butter is a fresh, hand churned product and ships cold. Refrigerate it as soon as you open the box.

Related reading

• Bordier Butter: What It Is, Why Chefs Love It, and How to Use It
• How to Choose Your French Butter: A Buyer's Guide
• Alain Milliat Jams

Recipe and photograph adapted from Maison Bordier, with thanks. The French Pantry is an authorized US retailer of Bordier butter.