Creamy Pear Pie

Pears. One of the quintessential late summer, early fall fruits. When the pears start dropping, you know harvest is upon us.

Did you know that China, the US, and Italy produce the most pears of any nations in the world? In the US we tend to eat them raw, however elsewhere folks have come up with some tasty alternatives. For instance, a traditional plate of poached or baked pears. Or maybe a dish of crostini with feta and pear-strawberry salsa. Or even some chickpea curry with pears. Seriously, you can't go wrong with pears!

With all of this in mind, I proposed a challenge for myself of late - to make a pear pie that departed from the norm. Sleeves rolled up, goal in mind, I researched a number of pear pies until I settled upon this one as my starting point.

The big changes included using my favorite pre-made vegan pie crust in place of something homemade (pandas have so little time these days), swapping out the sour cream for vanilla non-fat yogurt, adding almond extract, and beefing up the flavor of the topping by adding a combo of cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. 

How many pieces of this beautiful pie do you think I consumed? If you aren't to at least five in your guess, keep trying. Five slices is when I stopped counting. Keeping my hands off of this delicious foodgasm was impossible! In the end I finally started handing out slices to anyone who would take them, just so that I wouldn't finish the pie in one sitting. I call it a pie crush, and this is my current one! Enjoy!


Creamy Pear Pie
Adapted From: Pear Sour Cream Pie 

Pie

• 1 (9 inch) pie crust pastry
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 cup vanilla non-fat yogurt
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 4 large pears - peeled, cored and sliced

Topping

• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 5 tbsp butter, melted
• 2/3 cup rolled oats
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ginger 

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Take pre-made pastry out of the freezer. 

Combine 1/2 cup sugar, sour cream, 1/4 cup flour, egg, vanilla, and salt in a bowl until blended. Fold in the pears. Pour the mixture into the pie plate and bake the pie for 15 minutes.

While the pie is baking, prepare the topping: mix the 2/3 cup flour, 1/3 cup sugar, spices, melted butter, and rolled oats together in a bowl.

Remove the pie from the oven and sprinkle with the crumble topping. Return the pie to the oven and bake until the filling is set and the crust is brown, about 20 minutes more. Allow to cool and set before serving.