Apple and Pear Pie

My family loves apple pie. Sometimes for a twist, I like to mix some pears in. It’s amazing how nicely the pears and apples blend together!

For this recipe, you can use anykind of pears….but green Anjou, Bartlett, Bosc and Concorde are my favorites for this pie. For apples, golden delicious or MacIntosh are probably the best. 

Here’s the recipe:

APPLE PEAR PIE

Two crust pie pastry for 9-inch pie

3 cups peeled, cored and thinly-sliced tart cooking apples (about 4 large)
3 cups peeled and thinly-sliced pears (about 5-6 large)
1 cup granulated sugar
2 heaping tablespoons all-purpose or unbleached white flour
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. lemon juice
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into bits

Line a 9-inch pie pan with half of the pie pastry. Refrigerate until ready to fill. To soften the apple and pear slices, put them in a microwave-proof bowl and microwave on high for about 5 minutes. After a couple minutes in the microwave, take the bowl out and stir the fruit before putting them back in the microwave, to ensure they’re cooking evenly.

Remove the apple and pear slices from the microwave. Stir in the sugars, flour, lemon juice, cinnamon and nutmeg. Spoon filling into the chilled pie shell. Dot with butter. Place top crust on trop and seal and crimp edges decoratively. Cut steam vents in the top crust. Bake in 400 degree oven for about 1 hour. If the edges start browning too fast, put aluminum foil or pastry shields on top of the crust.

The pie is done when it is slightly golden and the filling is oozing out of the steam vents. When done, remove from oven and cool on a rack for at least an hour. Tastes wonderful served warm and topped with vanilla ice cream.

Enjoy!