(4 servings)
Preparation time: 40 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Total time: 2 hours
Every time I eat a pie for dessert it gives me that warm, fuzzy, happy feeling inside. I am not usually much of an apple eater. I know I know they say an apple a day keeps the doc away but I weighed the options and decided to take the risk :P. However, apples in a tart I devour. This past weekend I decided to make an apple and asian pear pie. I found these really fresh, organic fruits at the weekend farmers market on the Upper West side, NYC close to Lincoln Center, which were perfect for this dessert. This recipe is my take on the hearty dessert. I made a compote with the pears to complement the tartness of the sliced apples to make the pie filling. Went so well together! Hope you guys try this recipe and love it.
Ingredients:
For the Pie Crust:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2/3 cup unsalted butter
- 10-12 tablespoons water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg yolk beaten for the egg wash at the end
For the sliced apple mix:
- 8 medium sized apples (Use sour tart apples as we will be adding sugar to the mix)
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
- 2 tablespoon lime juice
- 3 tablespoon brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon all spice powder
For the pear compote:
- 6 medium sized pears (Asian pears)
- 2 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
- 1 tablespoon corn starch
- 2 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 table spoon bourbon or rye whisky
Method:
For the pie crust:
Add flour to a mixing bowl with the butter (I prefer to melt the butter slightly before adding it in as it mixes better). Add salt and 56 tablespoon of water and mix until dough starts forming. Slowly keep adding a little water as desired and kneading the dough to get desired consistency. Cover with cling wrap or muslin cloth and set aside.
For pear compote:
Peel, decore and slice the pears. In a casserole or frying pan add the butter (1 tablespoon), sliced pears, sugar and cinnamon powder and cook for about 5 minutes. Now add in the bourbon or rye whiskey and keep cooking until pear is soft. Add the mix to a processor and puree. Add back into the vessel on low flame and continue cooking. Dissolve the corn starch in the remaining tablespoon of butter and add to the compote stirring continuously. Turn off heat when consistency of compote is thick similar to a porridge or oatmeal. Set aside.
For the sliced apple mix:
Peel, decore and thinly slice the apples. In a mixing bowl add all the other ingredients and mix thoroughly and set aside.
Putting it all together:
Preheat oven to 400F.
Divide the dough into two equal parts and roll each out about 10-12 inches. Lightly grease the pie pan and place the first rolled out dough. Use a fork to prick the dough.
Make sure your dough is large enough so that it overflows slightly over the edges of the pan. This is to ensure that it can be linked with the top crust at the end. Now place a layer of the sliced apples followed by the compote and another layer of apples so that the filling is now at the top of the pan.
Cut the second rolled out dough in even strips and place on top of the filling as shown. The edges should link with the lower dough. Cut off excess dough.
Place in oven and bake 40 minutes (The apple pear filling should be bubbling at this point. After 40 minutes take the pie out and apply the light egg wash to the top crust. Place back in and broil until the top crust has a beautiful golden brown color.
Take out and cool allowing the filling to thicken. You can slice before completely cooled and serve! Enjoy!!!
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