Apricot Raspberry Pie #24

It may have been a little premature, but since apricots JUST started to be in season, I couldn't resist trying out this recipe.

Truth be told, I didn't give this pie the best chance right from the beginning (and the fact that the apricots were probably shipped from whoknowswhere is just the tip of the iceberg). Our apartment is 90 degrees on a normal day, but after baking a pie, the temperature jumped to about 190 degrees. So, as you can imagine, the pie had a hard time cooling off. When our friends arrived to partake of the pie, it was still very warm and it hadn't had enough of a chance to set up.

My fault. Not theirs.

Unfortunately, when we cut into it, it was a runny mess. Also, because of an experiment gone awry, that I was hoping would enhance the crust, th bottom crust was tough and hard to cut through. So, when eating it, I just tired not to pay attention to it because this crust recipe happens to be one of my current favorites. But like I've said befor, the crust can make or break the pie for me.

But the thing is, I was excited about this pie. I haven't had apricots for a pretty long time and as silly as it may sound I couldn't really imagine what an apricot pie would taste like. As I bit into the pie (or really, sipped the pie out of spoon--remember? it was a hot mess), I instantly remembered the apricot raspberry jam that my grandma used to make. So, it may have been a little bit of nostalgia that inspired me to try it and it was definitely the nostalgia that helped me enjoy it. 

However, eating my Grandma's jam with a bit of crust around it isn't like eating a pie--not that I disapprove of eating jam in any form, even if that's just by the spoonfuls. But, I have a sneaking suspicion that exceptional pie innards have a little more to chew than just a spoonful of jam does, even if I only have a few examples to prove it. I think that I should have used apricots that were just about ripe rather than ripe. Had that been the case I think that if we were to eat it again at lava-like temperatures, at least it would have been like a chunky soup instead of a puree.

So, besides the unfortunate mistakes that I made with this pie. I think the recipe has potential and that it could be very delicious. and I feel like I need to chalk this one up to one of those good old learning experiences I was hoping to have when starting this pie adventure.

I will try it again sometime and if you happen to make it, remember what I learned: 

1-Use apricots on the brink of ripeness
2-Apply proper cooling time
3-Don't do any crust cooking experiments

And I hope in the future we will all have more success. Good luck!

Apricot Raspberry Pie
(Adapted from Gourmet Magazine 2002)

INGREDIENTS:
1/4 cup flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 lb firm-ripe apricots (about 8 large), cut into 1/2-inch-thick wedges
1 1/2 cups raspberries
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 tablespoon butter

Glaze 1 large egg, lightly beaten

Double Crust recipe(I used the same butter crust I used here)

DIRECTIONS:
Place a baking sheet in middle of oven and preheat oven to 450F

Combine cut apricots and raspberries (note, leave the skin on the apricots). Whisk together the flour and sugar in a large bowl and sprinkle over fruit. Add almond extract and gently stir to combine.

Roll dough disk for bottom crust on a lightly floured surface until it's a 11 inch round. Line pie plate with dough.

Spoon filling into mixture and dab with small squares of butter.

Roll out top crust and cover pie. Trim the edges with kitchen shears, leaving a 1/2-inch overhang. Fold overhand under itself and tuck into the pie pan. Crimp edge decoratively.

Brush top of pie with egg and sprinkle with sugar. Cut steam vents in top crust.

Bake pie on hot baking sheet for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 375F and continue to bake until crust is gold brown and filling is bubbling, about 45 minutes more. Cool pie on a rack at least 2 hours before serving.

Bluebarb Pie # 23

This, my friends, is the new winner of 2010. Ryan and I both agree that it's one of the best, if not the best, that we've had all year (and that's saying a lot from people who have eaten more than 23 pies this year).

I was skeptical of the blueberry and rhubarb combo, but after the first taste, I realized I was SO wrong. As far as blueberries go, I love to eat them with some type of lemon accompaniment. I love their sweetness coupled with a little bit of tang and I had underestimated how wonderful the tangiest of all pie fillings: rhubarb, would accompany these blueberries. It was brilliant. And, if you don't mind me saying, far superior to any of those strawberry rhubarb combos. 

And then on top of that...don't you love the name?

That was probably one of the only reasons that I made this pie to begin with. But I'm pleasently surprised that a perfect pun accompanies such a perfect pie.

Honestly, I really don't know what else to say. This pie is a winner. The crust is simple, yet (and excuse me for using this word again) perfectly paired with the flavor and texture of the filling.

It's blue ribbon bluebarb, my friends. It's going to be hard to top this one.

Bluebarb Pie

(adapted from "Bubby's Homemade Pies")

All-Butter Crust

5 to 6 tablespoons ice cold water

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

11 to 12 tablespoons cold unsalted butter

Filling:

3 cups Blueberries, Sorted and cleaned

3 cups (1 1/2 pound) rhubarb, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1 cup sugar, plus extra for sprinkling on the top crust

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 lemon, zested and juiced

Pinch salt

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For the crust: Measure out the flour (unsifted) by leveling off dry measuring cups, and add the flour to the large bowl. Add the salt to the flour and give it a quick stir to combine evenly.

Use cold butter, measure out the amount you need, cut into small cubes and add to the flour. Break up any pieces that stick together and toss them all to coat them with flour. (If it is a warm day, chill this mixture briefly in the freezer before continuing.)

Using a pastry cutter, press the blades through the mixture, bearing down repeatedly like you would to mash potatoes. Repeat the gesture until the largest pieces of fat are the size of shelling peas and the smallest are the size of lentils (none smaller). Re chill if necessary.

Add water and toss to coat the small balls of butter. Use your hands to mold the dough into a ball. Sprinkle more water on the top if it is crumbly. Spilt ball into two and form two discs. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

For the filling: Preheat the oven to 450F

In a large bowl, combine the blueberries, rhubarb, sugar, flour, zest, juice, salt, and melted butter. Lightly toss the fruit and filling ingredients and set aside.

Roll out the bottom pastry and line a 9-inch pie plate with the bottom crust. Roll out the remaining dough for the top crust. Re chill the pastry if necessary.

Scrape the filling into the bottom crust and cover it with the second crust. Trim and crimp the crust; chill the pie for 10 minutes in the freezer. Cut vent slits in top crust (unless you are a rebel like me and make a lattice crust) and sprinkle it lightly with sugar. This pie is particularly beautiful if small round vent holes are stamped in the top crust--when the blueberry juice spills out, it looks like a blueberry.

Bake the pie on a lipped baking sheet for 10 minutes, or until the crust looks dry, blistered, and blond. Turn the oven down to 375F, and bake for at last 30 minutes more, or until the crust is golden brown and visible juices are thickened and bubble slowly through slits in the top crust.

Cool the pie completely before cutting, at least a few hours. Serve it at room temperature. Store the pie uncovered at room temperature, up to 3 days (if it lasts that long).

Green Mango Pie #16

I feel like one lucky girl.
This weekend was my birthday and early Sunday morning my husband snuck out of bed and, ever so quietly, baked me a mango pie while I slept.I've come across mango pie recipes several times but, without even looking at the ingredients, I've passed them up because, while I LOVE mangoes, the thought of a mango pie has never sat well with me.

Well, I'm here to tell you, I TAKE IT ALL BACK!!
In fact, I can't believe I almost missed this experiment!
Mango pie rocks!
(And I mean every exclamation point!)

Ryan, who doesn't even like mangoes, will confirm that this is a great pie. The two of us finished it in under...oh 36 hours...oops? We just couldn't get enough of it. I tell you it's delicious and not just because I'm trying to talk up my husband or something (though I will say that since he really knocked it out the park on this, his first pie, I'm starting to think he might be the true pie maker in the family).

Any way, now that I've gone on and on, let me try to explain it's goodness. This pie is like an apple-peach hybrid in texture but the mango, lime, and cinnamon make a magical little mixture. It's not as exotic as I was expecting, but it tasted like a cheeky upgrade on a traditional taste. And who doesn't like cheeky?Also, this crust is ah-maz-ing. One of the best all around crusts that we've had. It had a great flakiness to it, the bottom crust was perfect (which is always hard to do) and the flavor was outstanding. I will make the whole pie again (or better said, I will make this pie and copy my husband), but I am definitely going test this crust out on other pies.

One thing to note: the mangoes ripen as they are cooked which is why you want to use green mangoes. One of the mangoes used was somewhat ripe and every once in a while you could see some extra mango fibers when you cut into the pie. It didn't interrupt the taste or texture (that I could tell), but I would expect that if you used 5 cups of ripe mangoes, you would end up with a big stringy pie, which sounds pretty gross to me no matter the flavor or the awesomeness of the crust.

Green Mango Pie
(Though there are many similar recipes out there, the recipe he used is based off of Hungry Sofia's recipe)

For the filling:
3-4 unripe, mostly green medium mangoes (about 5 cups), peeled and sliced
3/4 cup sugar*
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Zest of 1 lime
1 tablespoon of lime juice
*The amount of sugar can be adjusted depending on the mangoes ripeness.
For the double crust:
2 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 tablespoon sugar
2 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter
4-5 tablespoons of ice water

Egg whites and sugar for dusting.

DIRECTIONS
The Crust: Cube the butter and keep it cold until needed.
Measure out the water and keep cold until needed.

Mix together all dry ingredients and add butter. Cut the butter into the flour until it flakes into pea-size pieces. Add ice water and mix with a fork to cover the flour pieces in water.

Gather the dough with hands until combined (add more water if needed). Divide dough into two separate disks. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, add zest and lime juice to the sliced mangoes. Combine the dry filling ingredients and add to the mangoes. Roll out single dough to about 1/8″ thick and place in pie pan leaving the edges long. Scoop the filling in center of pie but do not pour in all the liquid.
Roll out the second dough and place on top of the pie. Trim edges and crimp to design. Using a sharp knife, cut tiny vents in the top of the pie.Brush with egg whites and sprinkle sugar on top.

Bake at 425 degrees for 25 minutes, rotating once at the halfway point.

Reduce heat to 300 degrees and continue to bake 30 minutes more till golden.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before serving.

Double Lemon Chess Pie #9

What's a "Chess" pie, you're wondering?

Well, I'm glad you asked. I've been wondering the same thing...

The definition of a chess pie is somewhat simple: it's a Southern pie that includes buttermilk and cornmeal on the ingredient list, although no one really seems to know from whence the name derived. These, however, are some of my favorite theories:

-It's a Southern pie and in a shy southern accent "Oh, it's just pie" sounds like, "Aw, it's chess pie."

-It was popular back when ice chests had just come into fashion, so people called it "chest pie," but again, that tricky southern accent got in the way so it sounded like, "chess pie."

-Some recipes may or may not have include cheese, which, you guessed it, sounds like, "chess pie" in a southern accent instead of "cheese pie."

What's that? You're so happy to finally know?
Well...good. I'm so happy that I was able to help you with that.

ANNNYway...

I keep coming across different recipes for chess pies and I've been really interested to try one. the one drawback about this pie is that I've never had a chess pie before so I really don't know what they're "supposed" to taste like.

Also, I didn't realize that this pie would be so much like pudding. I expected something a little more like a classic lemon bar. So, in case you have a similar expectation, let me tell you: think lemon pudding, not lemon bar.

This recipe includes curd on the top (which seems to be unusual for chess pies, from what I've read), but that extra ting of lemon really gave this pie a good taste.
Nonetheless, I was very happy about the taste of this pie. Lemon is one of my favorite flavors for all things savory and sweet and as a whole, this pie had just enough pucker for me to be pleased.

While I was cooking the pie, I thought about not even making the lemon curd (since it wasn't really like a typical for a chess pie), and then I thought I should just make it and just serve it on the side if people wanted it. Any way, at last minute (i.e. several hours before I served it), I decided to just put it on the top like the recipe called for and I'm so glad I did. I don't think that the pie would have been as good without it.

Also, just to note, I didn't think that this pie crust was great. What's surprising to me is that it's similar to so many crusts that I've already used but it was pretty bland. It's like there wasn't enough sugar or salt to make it interesting. So, I would recommend taking the tablespoon of sugar out and increasing the salt just a little bit; however, please notice that the recipe is written like I made it.

Double Lemon Chess Pie

(adapted from Bubby's Pie Book)

All-Butter Crust

5 Tablespoons ice cold water

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon sugar

8 tablespoons butter

Chess Filling

2 cups sugar

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

5 large eggs

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk

1/3 cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon cornmeal

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice

2 lemons, zested

Lemon Curd

3/4 Cup sugar

¼ cup egg yolks (about 4)

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/3 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice

Pinch of salt

2 teaspoons lemon zest

For the crust:

Using a pastry cutter, press the blades through the mixture, and cut butter until it resembles coarse meal. Add water until it combines to form a ball. Form into a disk and chill for at least 30 minutes before rolling out.

Roll out on a well-floured surface into a 12-inch round. Transfer to pie pan and make sure that all edges drape over the edges. Trim edges and fold to create a decorative lip along the edge of the pan.

Make sure to keep crust cool while preparing the filling.

For Chess Filling:

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

With an electric mixer, cream the sugar and butter together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, buttermilk, and cream; beat well.

In a small bowl, combine the flour, cornmeal, and salt, add them to the butter mixture, and mix just until incorporated. Add the lemon juice and zest and mix briefly. Pour the filling into the pie shell.

Bake the pie on a lipped baking sheet for 40 to 45 minutes, until the top is a pale golden brown and the center is only a wee bit loose.

Cool the pie on a cooling rack for 20 minutes before refrigerating. Chill completely before topping the filling with Lemon Curd. Use an offset pastry spatula to distribute it evenly, stopping just shy of the pastry crust. Chill for at least 4 hours and serve cold and plain.

For the Curd:

In a heavy, non-reactive saucepan beat the sugar and yolks until well blended. Then stir in the butter, juice, and salt and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, for a few minutes until it thickly coats the back of a wooden spoon but is still liquid enough to pour. The mixture will change color from translucent to opaque. When ever steam appears, remove the pan briefly from the heat, stirring constantly, to keep it from boiling. It must not be allowed to boil or the eggs will curdle

When the curd has thickened, pour it at once through a fine-mesh strainer. Press with the back of a spoon until only coarse residue remains. Discard the residue. Stir in the lemon zest and pour it into an airtight container. The curd will continue to thicken while resting and chilling. Curd can be stored tightly covered in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.

Sour Cream Apple and Walnut Pie #8

I'm always wary of recipes that claim to be "just like the restaurant's" unless it actually comes from a cookbook published by the restaurant. So when my friend, Ann, forwarded this recipe to me, I tried to find some other "just like the restaurant" variations. The only problem was, I kept finding the exact same recipe, just on different sites and they all had originated from "Tart's with Tops on: or how to make the perfect pie."

So, in the name of experimentation, I decided to throw all my suspicions aside and try a "just like the restaurant" recipe for the Sour Cream Apple and Walnut Pie from The Little Pie Co. (a pie shop in Hell's Kitchen).

At the moment, the jury is still out on this one. Hot pie (i.e. right out of the oven) is not good. It never is. And last night I couldn't resist it's enticing smells (I promise they will drive you nuts while you are cooking)...I dove in while it was still hot.

Wrong, I know better.

However, after it spent some time cooling, it was much, much better. Delicious, in fact. And even if you're not a fan of walnuts and sour cream (which describes some of us at this household) I still recommend trying it. The best part was the combination of the bottom crust with the top crumble. I was very happy with how flaky this crust ended up (especially for a butter crust) and with all that brown sugar and butter, how could you go wrong?
However, it must be said that in my personal opinion, it wasn't quite right. 10 apples? 10? Do you see how high that filling is? That's not the only thing either, the apples aren't as creamy or altogether toothsome as I hoped they'd be (but maybe that's because the ratio of apples to sour cream is not right).

If I were to do it again, I would use only 6 to 8 apples. Also, I would increase the amount of brown sugar mixed in with the apples from "a little" (which is too vague) to maybe 3 tablespoons or 1/4 cup. Also, I would like to play with adding a pinch of salt and/or a sprinkle of cinnamon. All I'm saying is, it could use some tweaking.

But maybe that's just me.

And again, at the moment, it is just me. I left some pie in the break room at my office and there have been nothing but compliments coming my way all day.

One 9-inch Butter Crust:
8 Tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
6 tablespoons ice cold water

Combine flour, salt and cut the cold butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal. Add cold water and use your hands to combine and form a disk. Chill for 30 minutes (or more).

Roll out on a well floured surface until it's about 12-inches wide.

Sour Cream Apple and Walnut Pie
(adapted from Tart's with Tops on: or how to make the perfect pie)

Filling
10 large eating apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
A little light brown sugar
2/3 cup sour cream

Topping
(note: I doubled this because I had sooo many apples to cover)
½ cup sugar, half light and half dark brown
½ cup unsalted butter, cold
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
½ cup flour
¾ cup walnuts, crushed into small bits

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Line pie dish with the rolled-out pastry dough. Cut overhang to one inch and pinch with fingers to seal edges.

Toss the apple slices, sugar, and sour cream in a bowl. Mix with your hands until everything is well amalgamated. Pile apples into the pie shell, packing it tightly and mounding it up toward the center.
For the topping, rub together the sugars, small bits of cold butter, syrup, and flour with your hands. When combined, add the walnuts. Take lumps of the mixture on the palm of one hand and flatten them out with the other palm, so you have a flattened layer rather than a crumble top, and cover the surface of the apples bit by bit (like a puzzle). Cook for 20 minutes before turning the temperature down to 350 F and cooking for another 30 to 40 minutes. Check the top layer and if it has darkened too much, cover with a layer of foil and continue cooking until finished.

Shaker Lemon Pie #3

Ryan called it the best pie of 2010.

And, I'd have to agree.

In a way, it deserves a simple review like that. It's a simple pie: two whole lemons, sugar, eggs, and a crust.

I know that doesn't give you any insight on how I read about these pies a few weeks ago and became kind of obsessed looking all around the city for Meyer lemons. How I actually did a little jig in Whole Foods when I found Meyer lemons (when, I swear, they hadn't been there the week before). How I cut them with "master precision" for an hour while my visiting cousin waited (meaning, I spent over ONE hour slicing TWO lemons as thin as I could possibly get them). And then how I waited for TWENTY-FOUR hours for the lemons to soak in sugar so I could start baking.

You probably don't need all the drama I drummed up over a pie. That just makes it sound more painstaking than it actually was (even if I don't really have what the professionals call, "knife skills," so cutting the lemons was a slow process). It was easy. It was tasty. And I'd do it again...soon.

What I did right:
So from reading about other people's experiences making this pie, it sounded like it could turn out to be a big, bitter bite of lemon pulp if I wasn't careful. Two cautions I will pass on, which I think helped make my pie successful:

1-Use Meyer Lemons. From what wikipedia told me, they are "a cross between a true lemon and a mandarin orange" which makes them much sweeter and less bitter so they must be used. Besides one reviewer, EVERYONE swears by Meyer Lemons. Use them.

2-Slice them as thin as possible: If you have a mandolin that can slice a lemon so it is paper-thin, go for it. However, many mandolins don't have a "Paper Thin" option. Personally, I took back my mandolin because I had it sitting, unused, in it's box for a month (and I don't have much space in my apartment for unused items) so I was without, and in the end, I think that was a good thing because I made some pretty thin cuts (for the most part).

What I did wrong:
It's not that this is wrong, but it is something that could use some tweaking. I made a very sweet, all-butter crust. And the crust itself was yummy, but it didn't have quit the crispness that I hoped it would have. Even still, I would make this crust again, but I think that next time I will brush the top with egg-whites instead of cream and see if that makes a difference.

The Reviews:
Best pie of 2010. What else needs to be said. It's like a big fancy lemon bar and if you serve it with ice cream...? Oh, la la!

Shaker Lemon Pie
The Filling:
(Adapted from Savuer Magazine)

2 large Meyer lemons
2 Cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
4 Tablespoon butter, melted
3 Tablespoon all-purpose flour

Butter Pie Crust:
(Adapted from Epicurious.com)

2 ½ Cups all purpose flour
1 (heaping) Tablespoon sugar
¾ teaspoon salt
1 Cup (2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter

8 Tablespoons (about) ice water

(brush crust with cream and coarse sugar before baking)

Directions:

Filling: Thoroughly wash and dry lemons. Finely grate lemon zest into a bowl. Using a sharp knife, slice the lemons as thin as possible. While slicing, make sure to remove the seeds. Combine slices, zest, and sugar, cover and set aside at room temperature for at least 24 hours.

Crust: Combine flour, sugar, and salt and cut in cold butter until it resembles coarse meal. Add water and combine ingredients with hands until you can gather all the ingredients into one cohesive ball. Divide dough in half and form two disks. Wrap each in plastic and chill for 2 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 425°. Whisk eggs in bowl until frothy. Add butter, salt, and flour and whisk until smooth. Combine with lemon mixture. Roll chilled dough into two 12-inch rounds. Fit one round into a 9" pie plate and pour in filling. Cover pie with remaining pastry round. Cut excessive dough, fold edges under and crimp to hold in place. Cut a few steam vents in top crust. Brush with cream and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake (at 425°) for 30 minutes or until edges begin to brown.

Reduce heat to 350° and bake until crust is golden brown, 25–30 minutes more. Remove from oven and let cool for at least one hour before slicing.

Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Maple Ginger Pear Pie (#1)

I'm not going to call my first pie in this experiment a flop, but when I don't even want a second helping, I'd say that's a pretty sad pie.

I consider myself somewhat of a ginger lover and I'm definitely a maple lover so I thought this combination would be pretty delicious. However, the combination made here, was a little too gingery for me...or a little too something.

On top of that, it was very, very watery. I know that may be due to the fact that it wasn't completely cool, but even if it had sat out a few more hours, I'm certain that it wouldn't have set up that much more. I hate it when you cut into a pie and it's like a damn breaks.

What was right:
The crust. The crust was good. While I'm not sure that it will become my "go-to" crust, it made a pretty perfect amount of dough for a nine-inch pie pan, it tasted good, and while baking, it had a delicious buttery smell. Frankly, of all things that I wanted to eat again, it was the pie crust, which, to be honest, I did nibble on it a little bit while we were doing the dishes.

Where I think I went wrong:
Although I had read the recipe several times, it wasn't until I was putting this together that I started thinking, "Geez, this has a lot of flavors going on here." And while I'm willing to follow the recipe writer's judgment over my own, I usually rely heavily on how things taste (seems like a no-brainer, right?), but I didn't taste the filling while I was compiling it so, I really couldn't tell what was going on there. Note to self: don't fast and cook pies at the same time.

Reviews:
1-The Wheelers (our friends who came over for dinner), said that it was good and that they liked it, especially since they're big ginger fans. However, you should take into consideration that they didn't realize pre-dessert that they were part of my test kitchen and that I would still want to be their friends even if they said it was disgusting. Nonetheless, I will take them at their words. Thumbs up on this pie if you're a ginger lover.
2-Ryan was also really excited about this combination, but after tasting it, said it wasn't really something that he'd want me to make again.
3-I wouldn't make it again without some alterations (less ginger, a different type of pear like a Bartlett or an Anjou, a little more flour, a longer baking time, or perhaps I would strain some of the liquid out of the filling before adding it to the crust, and speaking of the crust, I would probably add more water to the crust. It was a little too dry).

Maple, Ginger Pear Pie
(adapted from Bon Appetit, November 1999)

Crust:

6 tablespoons (or more) ice water

1 large egg yolk

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter

Combine flour, sugar, and salt and whisk (to diminish flour clumps). Cut cold butter into chunks and cut into flour mixture until it creates coarse meal.

In another bowl, whisk eight tablespoons of water with one egg yolk and knead into mixture. When combined, divide into two rounded discs, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Filling:

3 pounds firm but ripe Comice pears, peeled, and cut into 1/3-inch-thick wedges

1/3 cup pure maple syrup

1/3 cup sugar

2 tablespoons flour

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon minced crystallized ginger

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 lemon peel grated

Topping:

2 tablespoons half & half

1 tablespoon sugar

Directions:

Position rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 375°F

Toss together pears, maple syrup, sugar, flour, lemon juice, ginger, vanilla, & lemon peel so they are evenly coated.

Roll out one dough disk on a lightly floured surface to about twelve inches and arrange in the middle of a nine-inch pie crust so falls over the edge of the pan. Transfer filling to crust. Re-flour surface and roll out other dough disk. Drape dough over filling and trim the overhang to about 1/2 inch. Fold overhang under, pressing to seal and forming high-standing rim. Crimp edge decoratively.

Brush crust with half and half. Sprinkle with sugar. Cut several slits in the top crust to allow steam to escape during baking and place on baking sheet. Bake pie on the center rack for 1 hour (or until crust is golden brown and the juices bubble thickly).

Click to enlarge and print: