Pear pie
Here is an example of how you can use pears which are no longer attractive as they are…pear pie. Always a success in the family.
Ingredients:
2 large pears (maybe 3 depending on the size of the pears)
150 g cold butter
240 g flour
125 g sugar (I used cane sugar, but you can use ordinary white sugar)
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 egg
Topping – a bit of cold water and sprinkle with sugar.
Method:
There is no need to peel the pears. Up to you! Generally, I am quite lazy, – I keep the peel. And the pears I use, are always a bit over ripe and soft. I only make pear pie, when I have pears that have not been eaten while they are still crunchy.
Preheat the oven to 190 degrees celcius.
Dice the butter and crumble it together with the flour. Add the sugar, vanilla and ginger and mix it by hand. Add the egg and vanilla essence and mix by hand until combined. Cover and cool for approximately 1 hour in the fridge. Meanwhile, rinse the pears and cut them in half and then again – depending on the size, in halves or even 3’s. Core them.
Butter a pie dish of about 27 cm. in diameter.
Take out the pastry and divide in two – approximately 1/3 for the lid and 2/3’s for the base. Roll out the pastry and line the pastry dish with the bigger portion. Place the pears in a circle. Add the remaining 1/3 as a lid using you fingers to close the edge. Gently add a bit of water with you fingers and sprinkle with sugar.
Bake for approximately 30-35 minutes depending on your oven. Mine in the picture is slightly dark – could have baked for a few minutes less.
Serve as it is or perhaps with some vanilla ice cream or sour cream.
As I had a bit of left over pastry and pear, I actually ended up lining a second small pie dish with this pastry. I cut up a bit of pear that I had left over, whisked an egg with 1 tbsp of sugar, 20 grams chopped nuts, poured it over the chopped pear and baked this together with the other pie. It was delicious! Adding up the amounts by 3 – I could have made a second pie just like that.