Pear Pie

Now, usually I wouldn't do much baking with pears, they are already sweet and soft when raw after all. But our Farm Share delivered a large bag of both apples and pears this week, far more then one could simply eat out of hand! These large juicy pears were begging to be dessert! I made a pie, and got so many request for an encore that I thought I should share...

First I made the crust, 1/2 c. Butter, 1/2 c Whole Wheat Pastry Flour, 1/2 c. Wheat Flour, and a drizzle of cold milk. If you can't get the pastry flour you can use whole wheat flour. I recommend buying some kind of whole wheat flour for your pie crust as it makes for a nice nutty flavor. Also, if you use unsalted butter you will need to add a little salt.

Sprinkle some cardamon on the bottom of the crust. Core the pears and carefully slice them very thin. Arrange across the bottom of the pan, I like a thick pie, feel free the heap them up over the top of the pan.

Beat two eggs and 1/4 c. milk thoroughly,  then pour over fruit. It shouldn't cover the fruit entirely.

Mix 1/4 c. rolled oats, 1/4 c. sugar and a generous sprinkle of cardamon. Sprinkle across the top of the pie. Bake at 350 F until crust is browned and the center doesn't jiggle too much. About 45 min.
Enjoy when warm!

What is your favorite way to eat a pear?

Itty-Bitty Cherry Pie Committee

It's that time again! The cherries on my parent's tree are ripening up and I'm picking them by the handful. These are not tart pie sherries, but they aren't super sweet either. We eat a lot of them raw, but I like them with just a little bit of sweet added. So first I sit on the porch during the longest day of the year and use that diabolical looking tool to shoot the pits out into the yard!

I then made a pie crust, just a simple butter and flour action. If you let your crust sit a while in the fridge it will let the gluten relax so you get less stringy bread-like crust and more flaky pastry crust. I have used the food processor to pulse the butter and flour, but it's never as good as hand chopped!




I coarsely chopped the cherries and put them on a low stove with a drizzle of honey and some flour and corn starch. It took about an hour to thicken up, you'ld be amazed at how much juice those firm little fruits have in them!



I rolled out my crust and used a muffin cup as a template to cut little circles. I didn't worry about them being perfectly round, as the act of pushing them down into the cups fixes any unevenness. This is a teflon no-stick cupcake pan (bullshit, I only tried using it for cupcakes with no cups once, it was awful); but with a regular pan I would grease if first to ensure they come out.

I baked them at a lower temp than most pies - 350F - since they were small. I could tell they were ready when the crust flaked and separated getting just a tiny bit brown on the edge. I used a cake spatula to peel them out, and they didn't give me too much trouble. They are messy and delicious to eat! Not a single one survived the night! Fortunately there are many many more cherries that still need to be picked...