A few years ago (well, more than a few, because it was before my husband and I had kids and before my parents sold their house and became the youngest, most active, and most rule-defying residents of a retirement community), my husband and I spent the weekend with my parents. My step-mom, delighted at the idea of company, made us a pie. And it was a reaaaaaaally good pie. It was a pear pie, but instead of being kind of like an apple pie only pears, it also had a smooth, creamy, sweet, spiced filling. I have been asking for that pie recipe for…I don’t know…I’m guessing 8 years now. It is met with, “Oh, as soon as I get home!” and “Let me see if I can find it!” and “Pear pie? What pear pie? I’ve never made a pear pie in my life!” Liars. They just don’t want me to have the recipe. So alas, using my memory as my inspiration, I tried to make my own creamy pear pie and I’m pretty sure I succeeded. I’ll also tell you right now that pears are awesome and way under-utilized and under-appreciated in pie.
For this pie, you’ll need a double pie crust , about 1 1/2 pounds of ripe (but not too ripe) pears, a 14-oz can of sweetened condensed milk, some cream cheese (live on the edge and get full-fat cream cheese for this recipe) vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, a little flour, and a little bit of milk.
Preheat the oven to 450.
Normally for this kind of stuff, I use my Apple Corer Peeler, but because pears are so, well, pear-shaped, I ran into some trouble and discovered this little wonder in my drawer of kitchen tools called a vegetable peeler. It worked like a charm (even if I did have to core and slice the apples myself. Who knew life could be so hard?)
So what I’m getting at here, what I’m telling you to do, is go peel and slice your pears. I’m feeling very verbose tonight. Then gently toss them in about 1 tablespoon of flour.
Roll out the bottom of your dough and then arrange your pears inside the crust. In the jar of your blender, combine the sweetened condensed milk, milk, cream cheese, cinnamon, and ginger until it’s nice and smooth. Pour it evenly over your pears and then roll out the other piece of pie crust dough and form whatever “lid” you want for your pie (I almost always make a lattice crust on top–check out the pie crust recipe for directions on how to make a lattice top).
Brush the crust with butter and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon (if you want–I’m not forcing you to do anything you don’t want to do here, but if you don’t want butter and cinnamon sugar on your pie, I’m not sure we can be friends). Place the pie in the preheated oven and bake for 15 minutes at 450. Reduce the heat to 350 and bake for another 30 minutes or so or until the top is golden brown and the inside is thickened but not completely solid/Jello-y. DISCLAIMER: Remember that all ovens bake differently? Keep an eye on your pie. I have a gas oven and it does weird things, so if your pie is golden brown and beautiful after 20 minutes, take it out. If it’s not done after 35 minutes, keep on baking. It will all be okay. You can blame it on my oven, but don’t send me owl post saying I’m dumb because your pie wasn’t done after 30 minutes.
When your pie is done, let it cool completely on the counter and then refrigerate it. I like it served cold, but others may like it warm. I will not judge you or your pie preferences, I promise.
Creamy Pear Pie
Equipment
Ingredients
Crust
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon table salt
- ⅔ cup + 2 tablespoons shortening room temperature
- ½ cup ice water
Filling
- 1 ½ pound pears, firm, not too ripe, not too green peeled and sliced
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk
- 3 oz. cream cheese from a block, not from a tub
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ground
- ½ teaspoon ginger, ground
Topping
- 1 tablespoon butter melted
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon cinnamon, ground
Instructions
Crust
- Bring shortening to room temperature if not already. Combine flour and salt in a medium-sized bowl. Add shortening in small cubes.
- Cut in shortening until you get pieces that are about pea-sized.
- Start sprinkling the ice water by about a tablespoon at a time over the flour/shortening mixture. Very, very gently, turn the dough with your fingers so it gets exposed to the water. You’re not mixing, just trying to moisten all of the flour/shortening mixture. Gradually, all of the flour mixture will be moistened. Gently pat the dough into a ball (it should come together easily but not be sticky).
- Wrap in plastic wrap and keep in the fridge until you’re ready to use. When ready to use, handle as little as possible according to recipe directions.
Filling & Pie Assembly
- Preheat oven to 450℉.
- Prepare the crust: Roll the bottom of the pie crust into the pie plate.
- Prepare the filling: Toss the sliced pears in the flour. Arrange them evenly over the pie crust in the pie plate. Set aside.
- In the jar of a blender, combine the sweetened condensed milk, milk, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, and cream cheese. Blend until smooth. Pour evenly over the pear mixture. Use the remaining pie crust to form the top of the pie (we like to make a lattice top crust). Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.
- Bake: Bake at 450℉ for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350℉ and bake for another 30 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the creamy mixture has thickened but not solidified. Remove from oven and cool to room temperature.
- Serve: This pie can be served warm or cold, preferably with ice cream or sweetened whipped cream.
Questions & Reviews
Love pears and this pie makes me want to run out and get some RIGHT NOW!
So I made your apple pie the other day. . . the first pie I’ve ever really made from scratch, and it was AMAZING. Now that I’m not scared of making pie (or pie crust, thanks to you), I think I’ll go ahead and make this because it looks spectacular. Pretty sure my husband would even clean up after me if I made this for him. Win-win!
This looks delish – I can understand why you remember it so! I have a similar situation with a friend who makes a killer chocolate cheesecake. Somehow the recipe is never handy. LOL I recently stepped my campaign up a notch by giving her daughter my “famous” potato salad recipe. 🙂
Kate, melon baller works great to remove the core from pears. It makes it go really fast.
I am really excited to make this pie. EVERYONE in our family loves pears. I made raspberry pear jam a few weeks ago and it is amazing and everyone loves it.
What I really need from you is a great recipe for No-bake cookies. I want them to turn out gooie and sticky. Everytime I make them they are grainy and sugary. What am I doing wrong? Maybe my recipe is lousy?
Pear pie with cream cheese and condensed milk, cant wait!!!
You guys have the best recipes, thanks for sharing.
This pie is sooo yummy looking!
Oh the versatility in that machine. I think I’d love the vinyl to do something creative for the walls. I just made the silk flower turkeys this afternoon and it was a big hit. It was in a Martha Stewart newsletter is where I got the idea and just deviated a little since we didn’t bother cutting the flowers in half. Jane
Do you think this would work well with apples?
Oh – Sorry! Stepmom, not inlaws. Maybe worse?!
Oh dear! How will you get through Thanksgiving? You just called your in-laws “liars” for all the world to see. Poor thing ;o).
I *LOVE* that you said you don’t want owl post. HP RULES! Also, this pie looks a-maz-ing! A definite must try, and soon!
Sounds divine…will just have to try it!
My husband LOVES pears … LOVES! You have no idea how happy you just made him, lol. I think I’ll just be bringing this to Thanksgiving dinner without asking … hope no one minds, lol.
Oh wow! This looks fabulous, Kate! 🙂
Sounds like I must give this a try. I just found a recipe for Caramel bourbon vanilla sauce last night, and was looking for something to put it on. I think this will work perfectly!
I’ve never made a pie … too scary … but this might be a nice starting point, looks so do-able! And such a great answer to that big bag of costco pears!! Thanks again ladies 🙂
LOVE YOU GUYS! And I know all my blog fans would too, even if my site isn’t about food. I’m sending them all your way!
Pear pie. Oh my gosh! This looks so amazing! I will be getting some pears this weekend for sure! Enjoy the “big ears” place!
You are at Disney World?? Any chance you will be coming to Tampa to visit Busch Gardens??
You are my new best friend becuase you just used “owl post” like it’s nothing out of the ordinary. Harry Potter is so much a part of my vocabulary now that I constantly use terms that don’t really work for us muggles. Ha! This pie looks amazing! Thanks for sharing.
This pie looks soooooooo good!!!! I’ll have to try this!!!! Hahahaha I totally freeze my slice of pie after they’re baked! For some odd reason, I don’t like the soft texture of the filling so I freeze it and eat it that way.
Kate-I think you might need to consider disowning your stepmom. Does she not know you have an incredibly famous blog she should be supporting? The pie has me totally curious! It might have to make an appearance on the Thanksgiving table!
Hope you are having fun tromping around Disney World!
Sara- your event sounds awesome!!! I wish I could come 🙁
It must be something about pear pie. I had a friend in high school whose mom would always make us pear pie and later when I begged for the recipe I receieved the same responses. Thanks for coming through.
My hubbie loves pears. I think I need to surprise him with this!
Oh man, this looks awesome!
That sounds delicious, pears are not something I really think of when baking.
Absolutely lovely pie!
I am not sure how you do it…but you manage to make everything look amazingly awesome. I am not even a huge pear fan, and now I totally want to make this pie, too!
Oooh, yummy! Pears are my all-time favorite fruit, and I’ve never even heard of a pie made out of them. I guarantee that one will be happily crossing my taste buds in the very near future. 😀
I made this pie for Thanksgiving dinner with my family and it was a huge hit. I’m planning to make another one soon. In fact, I think I’ll be making pear pie for the rest of my life.
The lattice top was more difficult than you made it look, though. 😉 It took me a couple tries and even then I had to cheat by using small pieces and hiding the breaks where they go under each other. But in the end, it was still beautiful, and that’s what matters. 😀