I am not a pie maven, I will bestow that title on my friend Kathy who can whip up a pie to complement your menu at a moment’s notice. One of my favorites is her classic double crusted apple pie with an amazingly flaky crust. That being said, I do make the occasional pie. From the failures and successes with pie crusts I have experimented with over the years I have found two favorites. One is a crust from Cooks Illustrated that uses vodka in place of water. 80 proof vodka is 60% water and 40% alcohol. It makes an easy to roll crust and alcohol does not promote the formation of gluten which results in tough crusts. Don’t worry about your friends becoming tipsy, the alcohol evaporates in the baking process so it helps the crust stay flaky and tender. The other crust recipe I use is from Fine Cooking. It is an all butter crust that is made by hand. You, the baker, control the size of the butter pieces in the flour, also resulting in a flaky crust. Obviously, flaky is what we are going for when it comes to pie crusts. All I know is that I will not make a crust on a humid day or a day that I am rushed for time, remember I am not a pie maven.
The pear streusel pie is one that has become a favorite in my fall baking rotation. I love the combination of sweet juicy pears, and tart dried cherries, I am certain that other tart dried fruit like cranberries or blueberries would work as well. Use your best spices, I used freshly grated Penzey’s nutmeg and Korintje cinnamon which they describe as, “strong as China cinnamon but smoother and not as nippy.” Some important things to note if you make this pie. The recipe makes a great deal of pear filling, mound it up in the crust, it will cook down, any juices that run over will be caught by the baking pan. Press the streusel topping into the pears to keep it from falling off. The crust for the pie is blind baked which just means it is pre baked to prevent the bottom of the pie from getting soggy. The pie is delicious on its own but even better with a scoop of homemade vanilla or cinnamon ice cream.
Pear Pie with Dried Cherries and Brown Sugar Steusel
Serves 8
Ingredients
For the streusel
- 1c unbleached all purpose flour
- 1/2c old fashioned rolled oats
- 1/2c packed light brown sugar
- 1/4t table salt
- 8T (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
For the filling
- 3lbs ripe Anjou or Bartlett pears, peeled and cored, cut lengthwise into 8 wedges and then cut crosswise into 1/2inch slices, about 7 cups
- 1 1/2T fresh lemon juice
- 2/3c granulated sugar
- 1/4c unbleached all purpose flour
- 1/4t table salt
- 1t cinnamon
- 1/8t freshly ground nutmeg
- 3/4c dried cherries, coarsely chopped
- 1 blind baked 9″ pie crust of your choice
Directions
- Position a rack in the center of the oven, set a heavy duty rimmed baking sheet on the rack and heat the oven to 350F.
- Make the streusel. In a medium bowl combine the flour, oats, sugar and salt. Blend the butter into the flour mixture using your fingers. The mixture will be moist. Set aside.
- Make the filling. In a large bowl, toss the pears with the lemon juice. In a small bowl, whisk the sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add this mixture to the pears and toss well to combine. Stir in the dried cherries.
- Mound the filling into the pie crust. Sprinkle the streusel topping over the pear mixture, pressing the streusel between your fingers into small lumps as you sprinkle.
- Place pie on the heated baking sheet. Bake the pie until the pastry is golden-brown and the filling is bubbly and thickened at the edges, 55 to 65 minutes. Rotate the pie halfway through baking, if the pastry or streusel browns before the filling is thickened, loosely cover the top or edges of the pie as needed with pie shields or aluminum foil.
- Transfer to a rack and cool completely before serving. The pie can be stored at room temperature for up to 2 days.
