Homemade Pear Pie
I need to use up all my garden pears this year, AND this Homemade Pear Pie does just the trick! It perfectly captures the delicate, sweet taste of the pear, while the crust (my own homemade pie crust recipe) provides the perfect soft, flaky shell for the filling.
I give directions for both a traditional crust and a lattice pattern pie crust in the pear pie recipe below. By the way, this crust also works beautifully for apple pie.
What to Do with All These Pears?!
So I made my poached pear with orange honey glaze recipe, and it turns out it was a huge hit! That’s good, but our garden supplied us pears galore, so I still had a ton left over for another one of my sweet concoctions. Then I thought to myself, why, wouldn’t a fruit pie be just perfect?
Well look what I have here—fresh pie! I’ve made so many pies throughout my life that I’ve pretty much perfected my homemade pie crust recipe. It’s pretty foolproof, and you can find it along with the pear pie filling recipe below. This will make you one heckuva pear pie!
How to Make a Pear Pie
Pear is such a delicate flavor that a lot of pastry chefs and dessert makers advise against using pears in dessert recipes. A pie is really hard to mess up though, and I believe in your ability to knock this recipe out of the park! Heck, if I can make it with everything I’ve got going on, then you will have no trouble at all!
What are the best pears for a pie?
We actually mostly grow hybrids: half Asian (also called “apple pears” for their crisp sweetness) mixed with the English or European varieties like Bosc, Anjou, or Bartlett. Bosc pears are my first choice for a pie. Anjou would be second choice, then Bartlett.
For more pear recipes, check out:
Homemade Pear Pie
Ingredients
For the Homemade Pear Pie
- 2 homemade pie crusts
- 8 medium Bartlett pears (sturdy pears) peeled and sliced
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream
For the Homemade Pie Crust
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3/4 cups unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks) very cold
- 1/3 cup Crisco vegetable shortening very cold
- 6 tablespoons ice water plus more if dough is too thick
Instructions
For the Homemade Pear Pie
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees (you will lower the temperature once the pie has been baking for 15 minutes).
- Roll out one of the crusts in the bottom of a buttered and floured 9-inch deep-dish pie plate. Allow crust to hang out over the sides of the pie pan.
- In a large bowl, combine the pear slices and lemon juice.
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Sprinkle the sugar mixture over the pears and toss until the sugar mixture is thoroughly combined and distributed. Pour mixture into the pie shell.
- Roll the second crust out over the pears, then fold edges under and crimp around the pie plate. Cut slits on top for steam to escape.
- In a small bowl, add cream. Brush the cream over the top of the crust and on the edges. This will ensure browning.
- Bake for 15 minutes at 425 degrees then reduce the temperature to 350 degrees and bake for 50 minutes or until the pears are cooked through and can be easily pierced with a knife. The crust should be golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool for at least 20 minutes before slicing. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream.
For the Homemade Pie Crust
- Place flour and salt into food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse to mix.
- Dice butter. Add diced butter and cold shortening to processor.
- Add ice water to the mixture down the feed tube with machine running. Pulse machine until dough forms a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate 30 minutes.
- Cut dough in half. Roll one of the pieces on a well-floured board rolling from the center to the edge, turning and flouring the dough to make sure it does not stick.
- Continue rolling until 14 inches in diameter. Fold the dough in half over the rolling pin, place in pie pan. Unfold and mold to pie plate.
- If making a double-crusted pie, roll remaining half of dough out on a well-floured surface. Roll from the center to the edge, turning, flouring and rolling until you get a disc with the diameter of approximately 12 inches or to the desired size. Using a sharp knife, trim the edges of the top crust, leaving a 3/4-inch overhang under the original pie crust and crimp the edges using your index finger and thumb. Make steam vents by using a sharp knife to cut 4 slits in center of the top crust.
- If making a lattice crust, roll remaining half of dough into an 8×10-inch rectangle about 1/8-inch thick. Cut the rectangle lengthwise into 1-inch strips. Make sure to do this on a floured surface so lattice strips don’t stick. Arrange strips about one inch apart on top of the pie. Fold back every other strip half-way over itself and place of the remaining strips perpendicular to the original. Return the folded strips back to their original position. Fold back the alternate strips now and place another strip across the unfolded strips. Return folded strips back to their original position and repeat by continuing to weave the lattice crust on top of the pie filling. Use a knife to trim off the excess. Use your index finger and thumb to pinch dough to make a fluted design.
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