Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Pear Pie


I've been trying to make more pies and tarts to improve my dough rolling skills. I'm not a huge apple pie fan but I thought that a pear pie sounded intriguing. As it turned out, you can't really tell that it's a pear pie versus an apple pie but regardless - it was delicious! The spices that were used were a bit different than what I'm used to in apple pies so that was a nice twist. The crust was yummy and flakey. The streusel topping was so good, but I think it's hard for streusel not to be. I'd definitely make this pie again. Plus, I discovered my favourite kind of pear is Anjou!


If this sounds good, you might also like:
Mini Pear Loaves
Apple Pie with Brown Sugar Streusel Topping
Pecan Tassies
Russian Grandmothers' Apple Pie-Cake

Pear Pie
Adapted from Caprial's Desserts

I didn't end up using all the streusel.

5 firm pears, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4 inch thick slices
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
Pâte Brisée (recipe follows)
3 tbsp unsalted butter, diced
Streusel Topping (recipe follows)

In a large bowl, toss the pears with the brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves; let sit for about 15 minutes to give the pears time to get juicy.

Preheat the oven to 350F.

On a well-floured board, roll the dough out into a 10 inch circle. Fit the dough into a 9 inch pie plate, fold the edges under, and flute. Pile the pears onto the crust, dot with the butter, and top with the streusel. Bake until golden brown and bubbly, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. If the crust and/or streusel starts to brown too quickly, cover it with aluminum foil loosely. Let cool for about 20 minutes before serving.

Pâte Brisée

Makes enough for a single-crust pie or a 9 to 10 inch tart.

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
3 tbsp (39 g) shortening
1/2 cup (4 oz) cold unsalted butter, diced
1/4 cup ice water

Place the flour, salt and sugar in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed to combine. With the mixer on low speed, add the shortening and better and mix just until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. Add the ice water and mix just until the dough starts to come together. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured board and form it into a disk with your hands.

Streusel Topping

Makes about 2 cups

1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1 cup old fashioned oats
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup flour
pinch of salt
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup (4 oz) unsalted butter, diced

Combine the sugars, oats, cinnamon, flour, and salt in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. With the mixer on low speed, add the vanilla extract and the butter, a few pieces at a time, and mix until crumbly. The streusel will keep refrigerated, for up to 1 week.

23 comments:

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

So pear pies taste relatively the same as apple pies, eh?? Well hey, then that guarantees deliciousness!! :-D

Bunny said...

Your pie crust (my favorite part of the pie) looks great, nice and flakey. I think using shortening and butter like you did is the key to a flakey crust. I've never made a pear pie so it'snice to know that it's not to different than an apple pie!

Elyse said...

Oh man, this pie sounds so good! I would choose pears over apples any day. They "pair" (haha, no pun intented) up so nicely with cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, etc. And a flakey crust AND streusel to go with it? Sounds like a slice of heaven on a plate!

Pearl said...

i love d'anjou pears, too!

Anonymous said...

OOO, I love pear pies. I hardly ever get one. I'm wondering about a pinch of ground allspice in there. (And--is this just too weird?--a very small pinch of ground black pepper.)

La Cuisine d'Helene said...

Beautiful, what a great topping you made. I should use it for my apple pies.

jb said...

I don't see pear pie nearly as often as I'd like to, so Bravo! It looks delicious! I made a pie similar to this last week- apple, pear, ginger with a streusel topping

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous pie! And what a great way to use pears.

Sara said...

Next to apples...pears are my other favorite fruit! This pie looks great.

Snooky doodle said...

oh this looks awesome I love the topping looks so good !

Finla said...

I have never made this but it looks so delciious, that i would love to have a huge slice.

Anonymous said...

The topping on that pie looks soooo good! I've never had pear pie, maybe I should try it. :)

grace said...

one doesn't see many pear pies. in fact, i don't think i've ever eaten a piece of one. how tragic! the amazing topping on yours almost overshadows your lovely crust and tasty filling. :)

Anonymous said...

I rarely make pies these days, but this one makes me want to change that- Yum!

Steph said...

I don't think there'a better topping for pie than streusal topping!

Chris said...

Glad that your crust turned out so well! The topping (streusel!) looks fantastic as well. Good thing every member of my family loves pears :)

Anonymous said...

I've always wondered what pear pies taste like! I really should get off my lazy rear and give this a try :P Yours look really enticing!

The Duo Dishes said...

You know what goes well with sweet fruits and some sweet root veggies (ie. sweet potatoes)??? Cardamom!!! It's great to add a bit in apple pies, so we bet pear would be good too.

Lisa Turner said...

Never made a pear pie before, but now I want to try one. Yours turned out perfectly.

Unknown said...

I wonder if using no spices would have made it stand out more when compared to apple pie? Pear don't have that much taste to start with... That's how I would try it.

test it comm said...

That pear pie looks so good!

Sarena Shasteen - The Non-Dairy Queen said...

The pie looks so good! I am not much of a pie person, but I feel like I should be. I think it is the crust that I don't care for that much. My husband loves pears, I should try this one for him.

Anonymous said...

Man, really want to know how can you be that smart, lol...great read, thanks.