I am always up for a good pie, especially an apple pie. However, recently, I was given a few Asian pears that I didn’t want them to go to waste, so I decided that pears would make a good substitute for an old fashion pie recipe. In this recipe, I am essentially replacing a few apples with the Asian pears to my personal, go-to pie recipe. This pie is perfect for the upcoming fall weather and holidays as it uses popular fall spices such as cinnamon and pumpkin spice. Yum!

Makes: Approx. 1 Full Pie or 8 servings
Prep time: 50~60 minutes
Cooking Time: 50~60 minutes
Prep and cook times overlap in this recipe

What you’ll need

• Large Cutting board and knife
• Large Stock Pot
• Pie Dish
• Ladle
• Rolling Pin

Ingredients

For Crust

• 2 Stick Unsalted Butter (1 Cup), Soft, Small cubed
• 2 1/2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
• 1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
• 3/4 Cups Cold Water
• 1/2 Tbsp Himalayan Sea Salt

For Filling

• 4 Cups Water
• 2 Tsp Cinnamon
• 1 Tsp Nutmeg
• 1 Tsp Pumpkin Spice
• 2 Cups Brown Sugar
• 3/4 Cups Cornstarch
• 1/2 Tsp Himalayan Salt
• 2 Asian Pears (or equivalent)
• 1 Honeycrisp Apple (or equivalent)
• 2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
• 1 Heaping Tbsp Melted Caramel

(Picture below shows ingredients for making double the serving of this recipe (2 Pies or 16 servings)

The Steps

1. We’ll start with the filling first as this will take the longest to make. Begin by taking the apple and pears, removing their cores and cutting them into thin slices length-wise. Place them in a bowl and set them aside for now.
2. In a large stockpot, add and mix the water, cornstarch, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin spice, salt, lemon juice, and caramel. Bring this to a boil on medium heat while mixing frequently as you don’t want the sugar to harden and stick to the bottom of the pot. Keep stirring until the mix starts to thicken.
3. Once you notice the mix boiling a bit, mix in the sliced apples and pears. Bring the heat down to low-medium heat, cover the stockpot and let simmer for 30-40 minutes. Make sure to occasionally stir and check on the slices to see if they are becoming tender.
   
4. While the pie filling mix is cooking, start making the pie crust next. In a large bowl, add in the flour (leave a 1/4 cup aside or so for later), sugar, butter, salt, and water. Mix well until you get a thick, somewhat sticky texture. Once all the ingredients are mixed. Split the doughy mix into two and form two dough balls. Coat the dough balls a bit, wrap them each in their saran or plastic wrap, and put in the fridge to cool for 20 minutes.
5. After 20 minutes, take the dough out of the fridge and roll one into a circle on a cutting board with a bit of flour to prevent it from sticking to the rolling pin and board. Transfer the rolled out dough in the pie dish and press the dough onto the sides of the dish. Add to the oven at 350 degrees for 10 minutes to allow the bottom crust to bake a little.
6. Meanwhile, as the crust bottom is baking, move the filling stockpot to the side and let it cool for 10 minutes.
7. Take out the dish pan from the oven and slowly add some contents of the filling into the slightly baked crust bottom. Put this off to the side**.
8. Now roll out the second dough ball into a circle onto the cutting board using the rolling pin and some flour as needed to prevent dough from sticking. Use the cutting knife to make long 1 inch slices of the dough. Take the pie dish and start adding the sliced dough lengh-wise onto the top of the dish. Start by placing the longest slice on the top center of the pie and cut any excess as necessary. Press the sides of the slice onto th edge of the pan so that it sticks against the slightly baked dough. Do the same with another long slice and this time plce perpendicular to the first slice. Repeat this step by alternating placing the slices of dough parallel and perpendicular until you have a criss=cross style pie crust top. See image below as an example.
   
9. Once done, place the pie back into the oven at 350 degrees and bake for another 30 minutes until the top of the crust starts to brown a little. Then take out of the oven and let cool for a bit before serving.

**Note that you may end up having excess filling left over. Not to worry as you can simply store the filling in a container and place in the freezer for later use. The filling can last up to 12 months if kept in the freezer. If you want to reuse the filling at any point in the future. Just add back into a cooking pot with a half cup of water as some of the water will dissolve from reheating the filling. Place additional slices of apples and/or pears and follow the same steps above for making the filling.

A sweet tasting pie with a hint of a few spices perfect for the fall season and colder weather! Best served with a scoop or two of ice cream and perhaps some melted caramel topping. Enjoy!