I was so touched when I answered the door last Monday and one of my neighbors, who I have never even met, brought me a huge bag of pears.  He said they were from the tree in his back yard and he had so many.

I haven’t cooked much with pears, but I like them.  I am a prolific pie maker and although I never have had a pear pie, I thought it would be interesting to try.

My friend Debbie had just given me some apples from her yard on Monday, hmmm, pears and apples that would be good.  Hey, I got a bag of cranberries in the fridge that would brighten up the pie both visually and taste.So it began . . . and the Apple, Pear, Cranberry Crunch Pie was born.  Where does the crunch pie come in?  I’ll get to that.

Apple, Pear, Cranberry Crunch Pie

Pie crust for a single pie

3 pears

3 apples

1 1/4 cups of roughly chopped cranberries

zest of 1 orange

2/3 cup white or brown sugar (firmly packed)

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

2 T flour

1 T corn starch

Crunchy Crumb Topping

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/3 cup flour

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 tsp. kosher salt

1/2 cup chopped walnuts, pecans or hazelnuts (this is where the crunchy comes in)

1/2 tsp. ginger

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

4 T. soft butter (preferably unsalted)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees/

Prepare a single crust.  Whatever recipe I use, I always add a Tablespoon or more of powdered buttermilk.  It is such a great tangy addition, especially in any pie with apple in it.  Put the pie crust shell into the freezer for about 15 minutes.

Peel, core and slice pears and apples.  Cut into slices (I liked 1/4″).  Roughly chop the cranberries.  Combine pears, apples, cranberries and orange zest in a bowl.

Mix together in another bowl, flour, corn starch sugar(s) and nutmeg.  Use a whisk to ensure the spices and starches are well combined.  Sprinkle over fruit and toss and turn with your hands until it is well coated.In the same bowl you mixed the flours, etc., combine rest of the ingredients for the topping.  Using your hands (I’m an earthy cook) blend all the ingredients together until the butter is evenly distributed.

Remove pie crust from freezer and pour the fruit evenly into the pie shell.  Top with the crumb topping and bake for 60 – 65 minutes on a oven rack placed in the bottom third of the oven.  The fruit pie will be bubbly and beautifully browned when done.

Cool pie for at least 30 minutes – preferably longer.  Enjoy with a scoop of your favorite vanilla ice cream.

I knew it was good when the first two people tasted it and the first words out of their mouths were “OMG!” 

Hey, wouldn’t a handful of currants be good in this too?