Pear Pie

A few weeks ago, my mom had a dinner party (a "dinner party" for my mom means having one person outside of our immediate family over), and she requested that I bring a pie.  She specifically requested an apple pie, but I wanted to make something different for the blog (I haven't posted an apple pie yet because I have an ambitious and creative idea for that post that will probably never come to fruition, but I digress).  To please us both, I decided to make a pear pie.  I've read that it is similar to apple, and I have always wanted to make it.  I varied my apple pie recipe slightly, reducing the amount of the ingredients so that the pear flavor would sing.  I read a lot of comments on various food blogs that pear pie is indistinguishable from apple, but I think that is due to the fact that people were using too much cinnamon; consequently, I only put 1/8 teaspoon of cinnamon in this pie.  It turned out delicious - not too much like apple and with a bright pear flavor.  Mmmmmm.

As usual, I made my tried and true pie crust.  Then I gathered 8 unripe D'Anjou pears (most recipes call for Bosc or D'Anjou*), sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon, butter, a lemon and an egg. The pears don't need to be ripe; in fact, unripe pears are fine. The harder the pears are, the longer it needs to bake. Completely ripe pears may become mushy when they bake, so I recommend using harder pears.

I peeled the pears like apples and sliced them into one-inch slices.

Then mixed the pears with 3/4 cup of sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and 2 tablespoons of flour and let it sit for 15 minutes, until it looked like this:

While the filling was resting, I rolled out the dough. 

And decided to do a single crust for the top rather than a lattice because I was feeling lazy. And before I covered the pie with the crust, I dotted it with 1 1/2 tablespoons of salted butter.

I had an idea to use this round cookie cutter to make a polka dot themed pie with circles around the edge and one in the center. As usual, it didn't turn out as pretty as I imagined.

And brushed it with egg whites.

Which helped smooth out the flaky crust.

Then I covered the edges and baked it at 425 for 30 minutes, then reduced the heat and baked it at 350 for an hour.  It came out with a nice golden brown crust:

Surprisingly, the pears turned pink when they baked; they looked very pretty.

Pear Pie

8 D'Anjou or Bosc Pear, unripe
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 tablespoons salted butter
Tried and true pie crust

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Peel pears and slice them into 1-inch thick slices. Mix in the remaining ingredients, except the butter. Let stand for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, roll out the dough and line a pie dish with it. Pour in the filling and dot with the butter. Cover with a pricked or lattice crust, brush the top with egg whites, and cover the edges of the pie with aluminum foil. Bake at 425 for 30-45 minutes, until the crust is golden brown. Reduce heat to 350 and continue baking 45 minutes to 1 1/2 hours, checking periodically until the pears are soft but not mushy (a fork should be easily inserted, but the pears slices should maintain their shape. Let stand at least 2 hours. Serve warm or at room temperature with ice cream.

* I made several pear pies this winter and got to compare D'Anjou to Bosc.  Both were good, but the Bosc pears were not quite as flavorful when baked.  Not to mention D'Anjou pears are less exepnsive and easier to find, so I vote for D'Anjou.

Enjoy!

How-to Tuesday: How to Make Meringue

This post is for you, Rebekah.  Because you're so bossy, you made me do it. 

Ok, ok.  Actually, you asked me what "soft meringue" means, which inspired me to write this post.  Then you reminded me to post it recently because I'm admittedly a slacker at blogging.  But I can't give you credit for everything - it was my clever idea to take a "Three Bears" approach to this post.  The idea here is to show you what meringue looks like in three states of being - too soft, just right (soft peaks), and too hard (stiff peaks, which are actually appropriate for many recipes, thereby ruining my children's book analogy, but I'm sticking with it).

You need eggs, vanilla extract, and sugar (superfine baker's sugar works the best, but regular granulated sugar is ok too; we're not all bakers!). 

First, separate 3 eggs. Typically, with cream pies, the yolks go in the filling and the whites can be set aside for the meringue.

Turn your mixer on high (7 or 8 on the amazing KitchenAid) and slowly add 1/2 a cup of sugar.

Then add 1/2 a teaspoon of vanilla as it mixes.  I kept a timer going as I mixed this.  There is no set amount of time before it sets up properly; just keep an eye on it.  After about 3 minutes, it looked like Elmer's glue.  Obviously, it was too soft.

Too soft: 

So I kept mixing it for an additional 3 minutes, until it looked like the dollop seen below. That is a soft peak. It is akin to marshmellow fluff, perhaps slightly softer.  It will form a peak when you press a knife against it or touch it with your finger, but the peak will collapse slightly when you let go.

Then I turned the mixer on high for an additional three minutes until it formed stiff peaks.  This is more akin to whipped cream in terms of how it holds its shape.  A stiff peak will not collapse when you touch it with a knife.

Here they are side by side:

Meringue:

3 egg whites

3/4 cup of superfine baker's sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Separate eggs and place egg whites in a stand mixer or bowl if using a hand mixer.  Beat on medium-high to high speed (I worked my way up from 6 to 8 on the KitchenAid mixer) until it starts to thicken.  Keep watching and checking periodically once it appears the meringue is thick and can be scooped without falling flat.  This can take anywhere from 3 to 10 minutes depending on the speed of your mixer.  There is no correct amount of time.  Press the flat side of a knife against the meringue and lift it away to form a peak.  If a peak forms but collapses slightly, you have made soft peaks; if a peak forms and holds its shape completely, you have made stiff peaks.