Okay, so I cheated and used prepared crust instead of making it from scratch, but that would probably have been asking too much of myself. There is no shame in being an insecure baker.
This pear pie recipe is from my friend Linda whose chocolate chip cookies are downright scrumptious, and I mean "rob-a-grandma-shove-a-Girl-Scout" scrumptious... So I was kinda surprised when she offered this recipe to me- like hello? Did I not tell you about my fiasco with the granola bars/ chunks/ crumbs? What would possess anyone to think that a person who could screw up putting together ready-made ingredients would be able to deal with raw eggs and flour? Her disarming faith in my inadequacy was so misplaced I was almost moved.
But I do like pears- much more fragrant than apples, and less tart in general, and I've never had a pear pie before. One of our favorite desserts is the decadent poached pear with warm chocolate pudding from Tamade in Singapore (which Jude surprised me with for a birthday picnic a few years back. I was thrilled of course- it's so easy to please me when it comes to food...) Anyways, so here I am, finally on Fall Break, and what better way to celebrate the first day of reprieve than to slug a blow to my ego? Let's try Linda's pear pie! I don't think it's her own recipe- she said she got it off a show or something, and it really IS very easy. I improvised it a little by using two varieties of pears. The recipe calls for half a dozen Bartlett pears, but I used a couple of Bosc pears too. Bartletts are crunchy I think, and Boscs a little more tender, so I figured using them both might be kinda of interesting. So here's the recipe:
1 unbaked prepared pie shell
5 to 6 large Bartlett pears to fill pie shell, peeled, cored, and sliced (or 3 Bartletts and 3 Boscs)
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
4 tablespoons flour
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1) Preheat the oven to 375F degrees.
2) Fill the pie shell with the pear slices. I alternated each layer with the different pears.
3) Beat together the sugar, butter, flour and eggs. Pour over the pears.
4) Place the pie on a cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes.
5) Reduce the oven temperature to 350F and bake 1 hour.
6) Cover the edges with foil to prevent over browning during the last half hour of cooking time. Serve warm.
Trust me, it really is idiot-proof. Check it out...
It was wonderful... almost brought a tear to my eye (yes, yes, it's been a rather emotional week...) Cooked pears have an almost alcoholic fragrance which goes really well with that faint scent of vanilla (the house smells great now by the way). It isn't as pretty as the ones you get at the store, but if anyone asks, I was going for the rustic look all along... *grin*
Jude's first slice (yes, he had two!)...
It looks kinda squishy around the edges but that's just the custard which turned out surprisingly well. I was afraid I added too much flour, but it was just nice. Bound the pears together perfectly. And I was right about using two types of pears- the filling was soft, with just a little bite. I think the key is slicing them thin.
Ok, that's it, I astound myself- they might be hope for me afterall... Betty Crocker, eat my dust!
3 comments:
And she does it! Told you it was easy :) You *are* bringing some to school tomorrow right? Right?...
It looks as delicious as it looks beautiful. Hmmm.... I may try it on my own.
Question: I was pretty sure that you put foil on the edges during the cooking and then removed them at the end? I guess either way works, huh?
Good job!!
I put the foil about 30 mins into the baking- the edges brown really quickly. You should definitely try it on your own, or I'll make it if you come visit :)
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