Spiced pear and raisin pie

1 Servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
1 cup Pear nectar
¾ cup (packed) raisins
½ cup (packed) golden brown sugar
3½ tablespoon Cornstarch
1½ teaspoon Grated lemon peel
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
½ teaspoon Ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon Ground ginger
3¼ pounds Ripe pears; peeled, quartered, cored, cut crosswise into 1/4 inch thick slices
Pie crust for 2 crust pie (They give recipe elsewhere; I used Pillsbury's ready made)
1 Egg; beaten to blend (for glaze)

Directions

This was my second offering for the Thanksgiving desserts. My mom is adamant that there be Mincemeat pie at holiday meals and she was having conniptions over my not making one. After tasting this pie however, she decided that it was better than mincemeat. Whew! Again, this recipe comes from the Nov 1997 Bon Appetit. My notes are at the end.

Position rack in lowest third of oven; preheat to 400 degrees F. Boil nectar in heavy medium saucepan until reduced to ⅓ cup, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Pour into large bowl, mix in raisins. Cool completely. Mix in sugar and next 5 ingredients, then pears. Roll out dough disk on floured surface to 13 inch round. Transfer to 9 inch diameter glass pie dish. Brush inside and top edge of crust with some of the glaze. Spoon filling into the crust. Roll out second dough disk on floured surface to 13 inch round. Arrange dough over filling. Seal top crust ot bottom crust at edge of dish. Trim double overhang to ¾ inch. Fold under; crimp edge.

Using small knife, cut slits in top crust to allow steam to escape. Brush crust and edge with glaze. If desired, roll out any dough scraps and cut out small pear-shaped decorations. Press decorations onto edge of crust.

Bake pie until pears are tender, covering crust with foil if browning too quickly, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Place on rack; cool completely. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Let stand at room temp).

My notes: I used pear juice instead of nectar. No problem that I could detect. I used less than 3¼ lbs of pears. My pie plate was an 8 inch I think. 3 ¼ pounds was about 7 pears-but that will depend on their size.

As stated above, I cheated and used a ready made crust. I didn't include the dough recipe as I figure you can get that in any cookbook. Their recipe wasn't unique or different that the norm.

Posted to FOODWINE Digest by "Mcelrath, Christine" <christim@...> on Dec 4, 1997

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