Friday is PIE DAY!

When I woke up this morning, I had no idea what kind of pie I was going to make for Pie Day.  I wanted to get the pie baked early, so this meant using what I already had in my kitchen and eliminating a trip to the store.  Hmmmm.....lots of pantry staples, oranges and lemons, and some cranberries in the freezer.  Nope, not inspired yet.  Oh, now, wait a minute.  A bowl of pears that I bought for Easter and never used-that just might work.   S was in the kitchen packing his lunch and put his vote in for pears.  Now it was just a matter of deciding what to add to the pears.  There were many possibilities, so I bounced some ideas back and forth with S.  Should it be raisins and nuts?  I started boiling water to plump raisins, then spied slivered almonds in my pantry.  Yeah-pears and almonds-forget the raisins.  "Ooh-ooh, and honey and ginger," piped in S (that's my man). 

So-here is what I (we) finally dreamed up.  After the taste test, I have adjusted things a bit for the recipe below.  This may still need some tweaking, so if you make it, feel free to put your own spin on it-then let me know the results!

Pear Almond Crunch Pie

double crust for 9" pie

5 large pears, peeled, cored and diced

1 cup slivered almonds

2 T honey

1 T maple syrup

1/2 c brown sugar

1/2 c white sugar

(I've been trying to cut down sugar in pie recipes where I can, so I used only 1/3 cup of each in this pie.  That was really a bit tooooo skimpy-it's so not sweet that it tastes downright healthy)

1 T candied ginger (adjust according to your love for ginger!)

3 T flour

2 T butter

-spread almonds on a baking sheet and drizzle with honey and syrup

-bake at 350 until browned, about 10 minutes

I could have just eaten this pan of almond "brittle"-yum!

-stir into diced pears

-add sugars, ginger and flour and stir until combined

-spoon into prepared crust

-dot top of pie with slices of butter

-bake at 350 degrees for one hour