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Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Recipe Review: Creamy Pear Pie

I'm on a mission this year to get back into my cooking groove, since I seem to be in a rut. I actually LOVE cooking, but for some reason, I haven't been excited about cooking at all recently! It's been months since I've made some of my favorite recipes and I feel like I'm getting tired of the same old thing. So... I thought that if I challenged myself to try a new recipe each week (and review it) it would motivate me to cook more AND it would give me some new ideas for what to make!

So... I went through my recipe book pile, spent the better part of two days sorting and organizing recipes and throwing out some that I knew I would really never make, and then picked out a few I wanted to try!

The first recipe is one that I first got from a co-worker almost seven years ago, but had never actually made.

This is one of those funny friend of a friend situations. You see, I actually just got this recipe again last week from Eileen who got it from Oli who got it from Russ who brought it to work seven years ago!

Shortly after I started working for the organization that I work for now, we had a potluck at our office (which was then in Roseville, MN). Ross brought the most deliciously creamy cinnamon-kissed pear pie! Ross gave the recipe to Oliver and Oli gave it to Eileen and me. I  filed it in my recipe book threw it in my recipe pile and never thought about it again. Until last week. Eileen is now leaving the organization and was going through old emails and found the email from 2005 that contained the recipe from Oliver from Ross and she forwarded it to me asking if I ever DID make that pie!

I hadn't made it, but I also hadn't forgotten how delicious that pie was seven years ago! So, here is my recipe review for this week...


The pie was obviously so delicious that by the time I took a photo of it, it was almost gone! 
(the pottery pie plate is one of my favorites and is made by Diane Millner in Stockholm, Wisconsin. I love her pottery and try to buy a piece every time I am in Stockholm.

CREAMY PEAR PIE

1 can pears, diced (in juice rather than in syrup - I like Libby's brand in juice)
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons flour
1 pie crust (you can use a refrigerated pie crust or make your own - I always use Betty Crocker's pie crust recipe from my standard Betty Crocker cookbook)
Cinnamon
Nutmeg

Directions:
1. Lay your pie crust out in the pie pan.
2. Dice the pears and spread them evenly in the pie crust
3. Mix sugar, whipping cream, and flour in a bowl (I just whisked it for a minute)
4. Pour over the pears in the pie crust
5. Sprinke the top with cinnamon and nutmeg (I probably used about 1 tablespoon Cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg)
6. Fold the edges of the pie crust over slightly and crimp them with your fingers or a fork.
6. Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes. It will start to bubble around the edges and brown slightly.
7. Let it cool completely before slicing.

This pie was so easy to make and all of the ingredients were things I already had on hand - it was perfect! Since it was so easy, I actually made two pies at once. I first thought one can of pears per pie didn't look like enough and almost opened another can, but once I poured in the cream mixture, it looked more full and it turned out to be just right. I loved eating this pie straight out of the refrigerator, nice and cool!

Tasty ****
Easy ***** (especially if you use pre-made crust)
Keeps Well **** (this was even better the next day after sitting in the fridge overnight)
Affordable ***** (the cream is the most expensive ingredient

If you're reading this and you actually had some of the pear pie last weekend and didn't like it when I brought it to our scrapbooking day, I'll just apologize now because I loved it so much I will definitely be making it again and will probably bring it to anotber get together... or maybe I'll just save it for myself. If you DO make this pie, or if you had a taste of it last weekend, let me know what you think of it. I'm always curious!

Tune in next week for my next Recipe Review, where I'll be reviewing a recipe I found on a fellow coworker's blog!

As I was writing this post, I heard Gavin say from the basement, "Whoah, I never saw a chicken skiing up a hill!" Where does he come up with this stuff????

2 comments:

Kristin said...

I have a similar recipe that I've never tried either. We don't use packaged stuff, so usually when I want pie, we end up making a crunch, crisp or cobbler so we don't have to mess with making a crust. (No shortening in this house either).

And where did Gavin see a chicken skiing up a hill?

Erin J said...

Kristin - I actually really like making pie crust and Gavin has fun shaking the flour shaker for me and rolling his own crust out! This pie was worth making a crust.

As for where Gavin saw a chicken skiing up a hill... apparently in his imagination! He's weird like that. In an awesome sort of way.