Browned Butter Pear Pie: Crisp Asian pears baked in brown sugar & spices with browned butter for an intense toasted nutty flavor.
Author: Portlandia Pie Lady
Ingredients
5cupsAsian or Anjou pears, cored/peeled/sliced (about 5 to 7 pears)
2teaspoonsfresh minced ginger or 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4cuppure cane dark brown sugar, firmly packed
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoonmace
3tablespoonscornstarch (ClearJel) or tapioca starch
Lemon zest from half of a lemon
Lemonjuice from half of a lemon
5tablespoonsbrowned butter (see directions below)
1eggplus 1 tablespoon water for egg wash
Grandma's Pie Crust (for one double crust 9-inch pie)
2cupsall purpose flour
1teaspoonsalt
2tablespoonspure cane sugar
1/8teaspoonbaking powder
1cupvegetable shortening or butter (room temp or cut into pieces if cold)
1/2cup cold water
Instructions
Make the Pie Crust Dough
In a large bowl stir the dry ingredients together with a large fork.
Using a large fork, cut in the shortening/butter into the dry ingredients until crumbly and pea-sized.
Add the cold water all at once and mix just until forms a ball (do not kneed or over mix). Divide dough in half (this will be rather soft).
Roll out one half on heavily floured counter top about 1 to 1-1/2 inches wider than pie plate, roll up on to rolling pin and unroll into pie plate (dough may be too soft to pick up by hand). Repeat for the top crust.
Pear Filling, Browned Butter and Assembly
Add the prepared pears into a large bowl. Add all ingredients except for the butter and egg for the egg wash.
Browned Butter: Slice the butter into 4 slices and place in a frying pan over medium to slightly higher than medium heat. Use a spatula, scraping the bottom to stir constantly, but not vigorous enough to splash out butter. (If you have a stainless or white frying pan it's best as you can see the solids start to toast and keep from burning.)
As the butter melts and heats up it will become foamy and will simmer around the edges. Keep stirring/scraping the butter in the pan after about 5 to 7 minutes the milk solids will separate and start to turn a golden brown while the butter turns amber, this is the point where you will need to remove it from the heat and pour straight into the pears, scraping the bottom of the pan to get all of the tasty toasted bits. (Do not let the butter smoke, it's gone too far and will be burnt.) See picture above in blog.
Once you have the browned butter mixed into the pear mixture, add to the bottom pie crust, wet edges with egg wash, place on top crust. Crimp, seal and add venting cuts to the top for steam to escape.
Brush top with egg wash, sprinkle on about 1 tablespoon of sugar, and bake for 1 hour at 350 F.