Browned Butter Pear Pie; yes, it’s as good as it sounds. Pears, the kissin’ cousins of apples, but sometimes under appreciated. If you’re a pear lover, fantastic. If not, I dare you to try browned butter pears; you make become a believer. However, if you really don’t like pears (gasp) use apples!
Asian pears are my all-time favorite of the pear family as they are crisper like an apple and are so juicy. However, when baked Asian pears are very close to the texture of baked apples; that’s a win in my book. Anjou pears bake quite nicely too; if Asian pears are not available. To say I have food “texture” issues is an understatement. And, because I am a texture freak I do not like the grainy texture of some varieties of pears.
Moving on; for your Browned Butter Pear Pie, you will need to make some browned butter. No worries, it’s truly not difficult. Let me tell you though, if I was not making browned butter for pie I would be dipping chunks of bread, soaking up that butter, and pounding it down. Hence, I digress.
Browned butter is simply butter that has been simmered, toasting the milk solids as they separate. Talk about flavor enhancement of the century. Once you master this short 5 to 8-minute process you will be making browned butter everything! When it’s done browning, stir this lovely nutty flavored butter into your sliced pears along with the sugar and spices.
Moving on to assembly, roll out the bottom pie dough and add your pear filling. Wet the edges with water or egg wash and place the top crust on. Seal the edges by using a fork at an angle for a quick, yet elegant, crimped edge.
As I wanted today’s design worthy of the browned butter pear, after placing on the top crust, I made impressions with a small leaf cookie cutter. The veins of the leaves were cut through with a sharp knife for vents. I randomly added a few more knife cuts in between the leaves; just to be sure there were enough. Regardless of your design of choice, play a little & experiment . Above all have some fun with the process!
Here she is, ready for an egg wash and then to the oven for 1 hour. The end result is simple, yet astoundingly beautiful; almost too pretty to eat. However, no pie is ever really too pretty to eat, right?
It’s at this point of the blog I usually implore you to save the last slice for yourself. That may sound selfish, but really, after sharing the rest of the pie, it may be your only chance for a slice. Now, if that’s the case, certainly save it! The unattended veggie drawer in fridge in the garage may become your new “best friend” hiding spot. Pie on pie peeps!
Browned Butter Pear Pie
Ingredients
- 5 cups Asian or Anjou pears, cored/peeled/sliced (about 5 to 7 pears)
- 2 teaspoons fresh minced ginger or 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 3/4 cup pure cane dark brown sugar, firmly packed
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon mace
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch (ClearJel) or tapioca starch
- Lemon zest from half of a lemon
- Lemon juice from half of a lemon
- 5 tablespoons browned butter (see directions below)
- 1 egg plus 1 tablespoon water for egg wash
Grandma's Pie Crust (for one double crust 9-inch pie)
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons pure cane sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup vegetable shortening or butter (room temp or cut into pieces if cold)
- 1/2 cup 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.
