Pear Ginger Crumble Pie

Pear Ginger Crumble Pie is an easy flaky pie crust filled with a juicy pear-ginger filling, topped with a spiced oat crumble.  This pie is a delicious new way to celebrate the holidays or any special occasion!

Baking has always been a huge part of my holiday season.  My mom and grandmother were wonderful bakers, and I would help whenever I could, baking cookies and cakes completely from scratch.  Every year during the holidays, I would help my mom with dozens of different recipes, and package them up to give away to friends and family as homemade gifts.

My grandmother was the pie baker, and I remember looking forward to her pies every holiday.  To this day, it’s not the holidays without great pies on the dessert table, and now it’s not my grandmother that makes them…it’s me!   Baking is a huge holiday tradition for me, and you can bet that I’ll be doing plenty of pie baking this Thanksgiving. 🙂

The building blocks of a great pie crust take a few ingredients that you always have on hand — flour, butter, salt, possibly sugar, and ice water.  That’s it.  Just make sure you’ve got quality flour and butter, because it will make a difference in your pie crust.

That’s where Bob’s Red Mill comes in.  If you’re familiar with Bob’s Red Mill products, you already know they’re top quality, and the Organic Unbleached All-Purpose White Flour is no different.  Why is it so special?

• It’s freshly milled from Organic hard red wheat.  Both the bran and the germ have been removed leaving the endosperm that is made into white flour, and it’s not enriched with any additives.
• This is the same high protein flour used by professional bakers and it produces high, well-textured loaves of bread equally as well as it produces light, airy baked goods.

This flour is so versatile, and perfect for all of your baking needs.  🙂

Truthfully, I never thought I would be a pie baker…I was always far too intimidated for that.  Rolling out pie dough just sounded so cumbersome, and I never knew how thick it should be, or how to keep it from sticking during rolling, etc.  I had no idea how easy making a pie actually is, but thankfully, now I do.

I used my Quick and Easy Flaky Pie Crust for this recipe, and it worked like a charm.  It’s made in a food processor, and takes only 15 minutes of prep!

The flour, sugar, and salt are placed in the bowl of the food processor and pulsed about 5 times to combine (Figure 1).  Next, the cubed butter is added (Figure 2), and pulsed in short, quick pulses (do not process!) until it resembles coarse meal or peas as shown in Figure 3.  You want to see clumps of butter — that’s a good thing.

Next add 3 tablespoons of water through the feed tube while pulsing in short, quick pulses once again.  Be careful not to pulse too much — just until the water is incorporated.  Remove the lid and check the dough.  If you can pinch it together and it holds, it’s fine.  If it’s still dry, add 1-2 tablespoons more, 1 at a time, incorporating it with short, quick pulses once more, until it’s cohesive as shown in Figure 4.

Once chilled, unwrap the dough and place on a lightly floured work surface.  Sprinkle the dough and flour your rolling pin, and roll the dough out from the middle to the outer edge, going in about 10 minute intervals clockwise.  After every couple of rolls, make sure to lift the dough and sprinkle more flour underneath to prevent sticking.  If the dough does stick, scrape any bits of dough from your work surface as it’s a magnet for even more sticking.

Pie crust can be a sticky situation, but it’s manageable.  Just remember to keep that work surface floured. 🙂

Roll the dough until it’s large enough to hang over the edge of your pie pan by a couple of inches.  Once it’s large enough, use your rolling pin to gently roll the dough around it, and unroll it right into your pie plate.

Tuck the dough gently into the inside of the pie pan, then use a bench scraper or knife to trim the edges around the top of the pie.  It’s ok to leave a little extra for crimping, etc. as the top does shrink a bit.

Next, chill your pie crust while you preheat the oven and prepare the filling and crumble.

We’ve got Bob’s Red Mill Organic All Purpose White Flour in our crust, and now we’re using it in our crumble along with old fashioned rolled oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, cardamom, and butter.  Simply combine all the dry ingredients together, and cut in the butter with a fork, pastry blender, or your fingers until it is in large pea-sized chunks.

At last, it’s time to assemble the pie!  Place the filling in the chilled pie crust, and top with the crumble.  Place in the oven and bake for 45-55 minutes.  I like to use a pie shield to prevent my crust from burning, so I normally check it within 20 minutes and if it’s browned enough, I cover it with the shield.  The crumble will take longer to brown than the crust typically, so just check it from time to time and cover it loosely with aluminum foil as it bakes if it browns to quickly.

This Pear Ginger Crumble Pie was a real treat from our typical flavors of apple and pumpkin.  The pears were so sweet and juicy, and the ginger gave it just a little pop of flavor without being overpowering.  The cinnamon and cardamom spices in the crumble were just what the pie needed to make you feel warm and cozy inside, despite that baseball-sized scoop of ice cream.

Every slice of pie should be a la mode, don’t you agree? 🙂

This pie is just what you need for the holidays.  It’s part pie, part crumble, with warm spices,  juicy pears, and pop of ginger to help you celebrate fall the way it was intended.  This Pear Ginger Crumble Pie would be a welcome addition to your Thanksgiving meal!

What would you make for the holidays with Bob’s Red Mill products?  Click this link for a coupon to help get you started!

Pear Ginger Crumble Pie

 

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Prep time

30 mins

Cook time

50 mins

Total time

1 hour 20 mins

 

Pear Ginger Crumble Pie is an easy flaky pie crust filled with a juicy pear-ginger filling, topped with a spiced oat crumble. This pie is a delicious new way to celebrate the holidays or any special occasion!

Author: Flavor the Moments

Serves: 1 9" pie

Ingredients

For the pie crust:

• 1¼ cups Bob's Red Mill Organic All Purpose White Flour, plus more for flouring your work surface
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar (omit if pie crust is for a savory pie)
• ⅛ teaspoon salt
• 1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into small cubes (freeze the butter cubes for 20-30 minutes prior to use for best results)
• 3-5 tablespoons ice water

For the filling:

• 3 lbs. pears (either Bartlett or Bosc), about 7 large, peeled, cored, and sliced about ¼" thick*
• ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1½ tablespoons cornstarch*
• 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger* (about a 1" piece of fresh ginger)
• juice of ½ a lemon

For the crumble:

• ¾ cup old fashioned rolled oats
• ¾ cup Bob's Red Mill all-purpose flour
• ⅓ cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• pinch salt
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

Instructions

Prepare the pie crust:

1. Place the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of your food processor and pulse about 5 times until combined. Add the cubed butter and pulse in short, quick pulses (do not process!) until it resembles coarse meal or peas. You want to see clumps of butter -- that's a good thing.
2. Add 3 tablespoons of water through the feed tube while pulsing in short, quick pulses once again. Be careful not to pulse too much -- just until the water is incorporated. Remove the lid and check the dough. If you can pinch it together and it holds, it's fine. If it's still dry, add 1-2 tablespoons more water, 1 tablespoon at a time, incorporating it with short, quick pulses once more, until it's cohesive.
3. Turn the dough out onto your work surface, and knead it together with your hands and form it into a disk. Wrap it in plastic wrap, and chill the dough for about 30 minutes prior to rolling to relax the gluten and chill that butter back up!
4. Once chilled, unwrap the dough and place on a lightly floured work surface. Sprinkle the dough and flour your rolling pin, and roll the dough out from the middle to the outer edge, going in about 10 minute intervals clockwise around to form a circle. After every couple of rolls, make sure to lift the dough and sprinkle more flour underneath to prevent sticking. If the dough does stick, scrape any bits of dough from your work surface as it's a magnet for even more sticking.
5. Roll the dough until it's large enough to hang over the edge of your pie pan by a couple of inches. Once it's large enough, use your rolling pin to gently roll the dough around it, and unroll it right into your pie plate.
6. Tuck the dough gently into the inside of the pie pan, then use a bench scraper or knife to trim the edges around the top of the pie. It's ok to leave a little extra for crimping, etc. as the top does shrink a bit. From there, crimp your edges as best as you can, or use the scraps to cut out decorative shapes. Chill the crust while you prepare the filling and the crumble.

Prepare the filling:

1. Place the pears, sugar, cornstarch, ginger, and lemon juice in a medium bowl and toss gently to combine.

Prepare the crumble:

1. Place the oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, cardamom, and pinch of salt into a small bowl and stir to combine. Cut in the cubes of butter with two forks, a pastry blender, or your fingers, until it is in pea-sized clumps.

Assemble the pie:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the pie plate on top of a rimmed baking sheet lined with foil in case the juices overflow. Pour in the pear-ginger filling evenly, and top with the crumble. Bake for 45-55 minutes, checking the pie after 20 minutes or so. Cover the pie with a pie shield if the outer edges are browning too quickly, or cover the edges with foil. Cover the entire pie loosely with foil if the crumble browns to quickly as well.
2. Remove from heat and let stand about 2 hours before cutting in order for the fruit to set. Serve warm or at room temperature and enjoy!

Notes

*I used Bartlett pears for this recipe. The pears should be ripe, but not mushy.
*I prefer the juices in my fruit pies to be thickened nicely. If you like a "juicier" pie crust, use about ½ tablespoon less cornstarch.
*I always store my fresh ginger in the freezer in plastic wrap. When I want to use it, I simply grate it with a Microplane peel and all!
Recipe by Flavor the Moments.

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I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.