The three pears I have aren't quite enough for a substantial filling (and, honestly, so mushy they will just turn to Pearsauce in the pie), so I raided my fruit drawer and found a nice tart Granny Smith apple and about 1/2 cup of ripe raspberries. You can also use peaches, any apples and add raisins, craisins, chopped nuts. It's definitely a recipe you can use to empty your pantry of over-ripened fruit!
INGREDIENTS
3 ripe pears (any fruit that makes a good pie)
1 Granny Smith Apple
1/2 cup fresh raspberries
1/4 cup flour
1/8 cup sugar (brown or white)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (optional)
2 tbsp butter
1 refrigerator pie crust (or make your own)
NOTES: The more ripe the fruit, the larger you should cut it for your "pie" and the more flour you should add to the recipe. Over-ripe fruit will tend to turn to fruit sauce, so the flour helps the fruit hang on to its shape and thicken any sauce. In my case the Granny Smith apple is very firm, while the pears are very soft, so I cut the apple in much thinner slices than the pears, to try and even out the cooking time of both fruits.
I love Pumpkin Pie Spice! It has a hint of cloves and nutmeg as well as cinnamon. There's also a mixed spice called "Apple Pie Spice" which I also use frequently in recipes that call for plain cinnamon.
My photo includes a container of applesauce. Ignore it. I normally add applesauce to any apple pie I make just to add that saucy filling, but once I cut into the pears and realized how "mushy" they were, I decided the applesauce wasn't necessary.
DIRECTIONS:
Remove pre-made refrigerator pie dough from the fridge about 15 minutes ahead of time. This gives it time to warm up and makes it easier to handle. (Instructions are on the box to warm it up with microwave, but I find it handles better if I just let it warm up to room temp on its own.)
Preheat oven at 425 degrees.
Pare off skin from pears and apple. Cut pear and apple into slices/chunks (see NOTES above), trying to keep the fruit cut uniformly so it will cook evenly.
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| Notice over-ripe pears are cut in larger chunks than firm apples. |
In a mixing bowl, add fruit, salt, sugar, spices, and flour and gently stir/toss to coat the fruits in the flour. Don't STIR because this will break the fruit into small pieces. Just gently toss it until the fruit is coated.
Lightly Pam-spray your cookie sheet. Emphasis on the "lightly".
Unroll your pie crust to lay flat on the cookie sheet. (I next sprinkled the crust with a cinnamon sugar mixture but this is optional.).
Spoon your fruit ingredients into the center of the pie crust.
Cut the butter up into small pieces and place randomly on top of the fruit.
Pull up the pie crust all around the fruit, leaving an open area at the top.
Until it looks like this:
Bake in oven for 20 minutes (more if ALL your fruit is firm. For example, if you use all firm apples, I'd bake it for 35 minutes), then switch your oven OFF and leave tart in the oven for another 15 minutes.
Cool for at least 20 minutes and serve! Delicious slightly warm served with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
1 comment:
I made something very similar to this....I just folded about an inch of the edge in so most of the filling was exposed. I made it with peach, plum and black raspberries. It was delicious!
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