Pear Kuchen

One of my favorite breakfasts. Or dessert, I guess. It only has about 1/2 cup of sugar! Pears keep so well through the early winter - I have lots of them now. I think this recipe originally came from an old cookbook of my mom's, The Spice Cookbook.

1 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbs sugar
3 Tbs cold butter
1/2 cup milk
2 ripe pears
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp lemon or lime zest
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
2 Tbs melted butter

Preheat oven to 375F. Mix flour, baking soda and salt thoroughly. Cut in butter with fork or food processor, until it looks like cornmeal. Stir in milk. Spread dough in a pie plate (it will be sticky). Cut pears in 1/2-inch slices and arrange them on the top. Mix sugar, butter, lemon zest and spices and sprinkle over the top. Bake 35 minutes, or until top is bubbly.