Masa-Pear Cobbler

Perfect for the cool nights of pear season, this sweet and rich cobbler has no refined sugar and it's gluten-free. Instead of flour or oats, the topping uses fresh masa, or masa harina - a meal ground from corn treated with lime. The lime improves the baking qualities of the corn, but it also turns it into a nutritional powerhouse, compared to regular cornmeal. The lime treatment: Converts an essential B vitamin into absorpable form, adds calcium to correct regular corn's overabundance of phosphorus, and improves the absorbable amino acid profile over regular corn. Eaten with a generous helping of plain yogurt, this dessert has a favorable glycemic index.

-Alan Wagener

• 5 cups fresh pear slices
• 1 cup tart apple slices
• 2 cups fresh ground masa or 1 1/4 cup masa harina
• 1/8 lb. unsalted butter, melted
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup maple syrup, mixed with 2 T. water
• 3 Tbsp. almonds, chopped
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• plain, unfortified (no dry milk added) yogurt

Mix the apples, pears, almonds and 1/2 the cinnamon (1/4 tsp.). Add 1/2 the maple syrup (1/4 cup) and mix. Pour into a baking baking dish and press gently so the surface is relatively flat. Use any size pan you like as long as the mixture is between 1 1/2 to 3 inches deep.

Mix the masa and the rest of the cinnamon.

Add the melted butter and mix well.

add the maple syrup & water mixture and mix lightly - it should be crumbly. Cover the apples/pears with the topping.

Bake at 350 F. - Until the fruit is soft and the topping is lightly browned.

Serve warm with a generous helping of plain yogurt. Try to find a whole milk yogurt without added nonfat milk. Usually this yogurt is made from pasteurized, unhomogenized milk, so there is a layer of cream on top. This type of yogurt is naturally sweeter and less acid than the fortified yogurt. And, as long as you discard the cream on top, it's reasonably low in fat. On the other hand, that fat makes a wonderful sour cream/cream cheese!