Preheat oven to 350-degrees F and butter preferred baking dish.
Peel the pears and cut in half, the use a spoon or a melon baller to remove core/seeds. Slice lengthwise into smaller pieces; approximately eighths or smaller.
Place cut pears in a bowl and toss with the vanilla extract.
To the bowl of pears, add 1/4 cup brown sugar, 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger, toss again to coat pears well. Place coated pears in baking dish.
In a bowl combine the butter, the remaining 1/2 cup brown sugar, the remaining 1/2 cup all purpose flour, the remaining 1 teaspoon cinnamon, salt and oatmeal together. Use your hands if you need to in order for the butter to be incorporated well with the other ingredients.
Spread mixture over the pears in the baking dish and bake for 35-45 minutes, or until pears are very tender, and the top has browned. Be sure to check pears for tenderness and increase cook time by a few minutes at a time.
Recipe Notes
Note – the topping ingredients were cut in half because it was undesirably too thick.