Batter Up: Pear & Cranberry Pie

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Ingredients

Pie crust – store bought or homemade, two 9-inch crusts

6 medium pears, peeled, cored, and chopped

1 ½ cups raw fresh cranberries

½ cup brown sugar

2 ½ tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled, finely diced

Juice of ½ orange

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons butter, melted

2 tablespoons brown sugar

Instructions (Makes 1 Pie)

Preheat oven to 425°F. If using store-bought pie crust, remove from refrigerator and allow to come up to room temperature.

To prepare the filling, wash the cranberries and pears. Peel the pears and chop into roughly 1-inch cubes. Toss in a large mixing bowl with the orange juice and cranberries. Add the sugar, spices, and butter pieces, and mix until evenly distributed. Line a pie tin with one of the 9-inch rounds of pie crust, and trim to fit. Gently pour the filling into the pie crust, ensuring that there is an even surface that does not overflow.

Lay out the remaining 9-inch round of crust on a well-floured work surface, and cut into strips. Lay these strips down over the filling, interweaving to form a lattice pattern. Alternatively, cut out shapes from the pie crust using a cookie cutter, and lay them down on top of the filling. Try to cover about half of the surface of the pie with crust. Brush the crust with melted butter and sprinkle the remaining brown sugar on top.

Bake for 45 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Allow to rest and cool for at least one hour before cutting and serving. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

I developed this recipe based off of similar ones from Recipes.com and from Betty Crocker when I happened to have some spear pears. My friends enjoyed it and my family requested that I make one for them over beak! This is the perfect recipe for Thanksgiving or Christmas – fall spices and fall fruits like cranberries pair well together, and their tartness makes the dessert refreshing and not overbearingly sweet.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do. Bon appetite!