Double Ginger Cardamom Pear Pie

It’s simply the best time of the year!  I wish I could live in a world where it is October for 10 months of the year. 

I’ll give you a month of summer for swimming, and a month of winter for skiing, but I’ll take autumn colours and baking for the rest, most gladly! 🙂

Along with apples, pumpkins and squash, autumn means pears. In fact, I’ll let you in on a little secret, I probably like pears even more than apples.  They seem to have a more delicate beauty and flavour.  They always evoke an almost medieval mood with me (I know, now I’m sounding all geeky and bookwormy)  A still life of pears will stop me before any other fruit in a bowl.  Plus pears seem to come in all of Autumn’s colours: russet, greens, reds, even a golden brown.  They sum up the season perfectly.  They can go sweet or savoury.  They can be turned into butter, buckles, crisps, cakes, poached with wine, even served with pork or chicken. I don’t think they get enough love.  Slowly I’m trying to fix this.  My very first ‘The Lemon Apron’ blog post was a tribute to autumn and pears, Pear, Chocolate and Ginger Scones.

So today’s pie.  Like that first blog post, I can’t help but pair (hehe) ginger with pear.  They get along swimmingly.  Star anise, cardamom, ginger, cloves, they all love pears.  So I decided to surround thinly sliced Bosc pears with two kinds of ginger: ground ginger, and chopped candied ginger.   For a secondary spice note, I went with cardamom.  It is there, but doesn’t dominate.  It rounds out the flavours well.  But just to add some contrast and bring some attention to the gentle sweetness of the pear, I’ve added urfa pepper.  Urfa has that smokey, raisin-like quality that makes it a wonderfully mellow pepper to add to fruit.  So flecks of black flakes dot the landscape as well.

I kept the crust simple.  There is enough going on in the filling.  I originally developed the recipe for my upcoming Pie Workshop.  And I needed to test baking up a pie in a toaster oven. Yep, it can be done.  The recipe to follow will still be in a traditional oven, of course.

How to Bake in a Toaster Oven

An adjustment to temperature has to be made, since the pie is closer to the heat source, both top and bottom.  But as you can see by the photos, it turned out perfectly.  If you are ever stuck, and only have a toaster oven to bake up a pie, this is proof that it can be done!  Just don’t overfill it, since the crust will be closer to the top, and will over brown- I did cover my crust loosely with tinfoil towards the end of baking.  I started the pie at 375F  for about 15 minutes, and then I dropped it to 350F for the final 45 minutes or so.  Just watch the crust.  And once you see the juices bubbling everywhere, then you know it is cooked through.  Have the pie sitting on a baking sheet (most toaster ovens come with one) to catch any juices.

Jim loved the pie.  Even after the third slice, he was still commenting on the flavour and texture.  Speaking of texture: some pears are firmer than others.  I love baking with Bosc or Bartletts.  But if you have different pears where you are, it will still work.  It’s all in the slicing.  The firmer the pear, the thinner you should slice it.  I cut these bosc pears pretty thin- about 1/8- 1/6 inch (4 cm)  If it is a softer pear, you can cut them twice as thick.  Some will melt beautifully around other slices, creating a great play of textures.  Jim actually noted how there was still a lovely firmness to the filling.

This pie will definitely be on repeat for the foreseeable future.  And this makes me very happy.  A joyous Autumn to you all.

By the way, how many of you can eat candied ginger as is? Every time I use it in a recipe, I end up snacking on pieces of it just as they sit there.  To the point I have to make sure I leave enough for the recipe!  I should share a recipe for making our own homemade candied ginger!  It’s also good for upset tummies 😉

Love Jen 

5 from 2 votes

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Double Ginger Cardamom Pear Pie with Urfa Biber

Pear and Ginger play so well together in this pie.  Cardamom adds a citrusy note.  And urfa biber adds a smokey raisin-like quality.  This pie smells amazing as it bakes, and all it need is vanilla ice cream for serving.

Course Dessert

Prep Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour

Resting time 3 hours

Total Time 2 hours 30 minutes

Servings 8

Ingredients

• 1 double crust No Fail Pie Crust recipe divided in half
• 5 bosc pears enough to make 5 cups or so
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 2/3 cups sugar
• 1 tbsp ground ginger
• 3 tbsp candied ginger chopped well
• 1 tsp cardamom
• 3 tbsp arrowroot starch
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp urfa biber Turkish black pepper flakes
• 5-6 dashes angustura or old fashioned bitters don't be skimpy
• 2 tbsp ground almonds
• 1 egg with a dash of water to create a wash

Instructions

1. Prepare the crust as follows;
2. Place one round on a well floured surface (including the rolling pin) and roll it out to fit into a 9 inch pie plate. Ease it into the plate (see No Fail Pie Crust for tips) and trim to leave 1/2 inch over the edge. Set into the fridge to cool.
3. Peel, core and slice the pears into relatively thin slices (4 mm or 1/6 inch at the largest)
4. Place these in a large bowl and sprinkle the lemon juice over all the slices. Stir to coat them well.

5. In a medium bowl, combine the sugar, gingers, cardamom, arrowroot starch, salt and ura pepper, and bitters.

6. Pour this over the pears and toss. Let this sit while you bring out the other round of pastry from the fridge to warm up.

7. Once 10-15 minutes have passed, take out the pie shell from the fridge.
8. Scatter 2 tbsp of almond meal all over the bottom of the pie shell.
9. Spoon the pie filling into the shell. Use your fingers to fit all the slices in tightly and densely. Once they are all in, gently push down to release any air holes. Place this in to the fridge.
10. Now the top should be ready to work with. Roll it out as you did the bottom. Keep everything well floured. Decide how you want to finish the pie. You can do a lattice, cookie cutter cut-outs, or a simple topper. If you choose the simple full topper, ensure that you cut in some air vents. Use a bit of water on the back of the pieces to help them adhere to the bottom crust. Crimp and finish as you want.

11. Place the pie back into the fridge to firm up.

12. Pre-heat the oven to 425F
13. When it has reached temperature, remove the pie from the fridge and place on top of a baking sheet. Do a simple egg wash and sprinkle with turbinado or demerara sugar.
14. Bake in the lower third of the oven for 30 minutes, or until you notice the crust starting to turn golden brown.
15. Move the rack to the middle, reduce the heat to 375F and bake in the middle of the oven for another 30-35 minutes, or until the juices are bubbling up and out all over pie (not just the outer edges of the filling)
16. Place onto a cooling rack for at least 3-4 hours to let the filling set.
17. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.