Friday, April 9, 2010

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

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