Moraga Pear Pie

When Eric and I were visiting my family the weekend after Thanksgiving, my dad realized that he had forgotten to make one of the desserts he’d been most looking forward to (I know where my absent mindedness comes from…hi Dad!). We ended up whipping this together in no time flat and it came out of the oven just as we were getting ready to leave. It was torture having this in the car with us on the way home and not being able to eat it! Pears aren’t in season right now but this came out delicious anyways. I wouldn’t recommend making it with canned pears as they are too mushy.

According to the original cookbook, this recipe was created by an 82-year old woman who won Moraga, California’s pear recipe contest. The town of Moraga was developed on Bartlett orchards, and they celebrate their heritage by hosting an annual pear festival.

Moraga Pear Pie from The Great Book of Pears by Barbara Jeanne Flores

What You’ll Need:

• 1 unbaked, premade pie shell (or 2 shells for a covered pie)
• 5 to 6 Bartlett pears, peeled, cored and sliced
• 1 cup sugar
• ¼ cup butter, melted and cooled
• 4 tbsp flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

What To Do:

Preheat your oven to 375°F.

After preparing the pears (pre-pear-ing?), lay them in a regular pattern in the pie shell. I started out by fanning them in a tight spiral, but eventually you will have to just fit them in wherever you can. Also, be aware that the pears will decrease in size while baking, so you want the pie to be liberally mounded over the edge of the pie shell.

[I would insert a picture of this step here, except I forgot to take one. Use your imagination.]

In a mixing bowl, beat together the sugar, flour, eggs, and vanilla. Pour this mixture over the pears. I recommend doing this with the pie on a foil-lined baking sheet as it will likely splatter all over the place.

Bake the pie for 15 minutes. After that, reduce the oven temp to 350°F and continue baking for 30 minutes. After the 30 minutes, cover the pie loosely with foil to prevent overbrowning. Bake for an additional 30 minutes (i.e. your total bake time is 75 minutes.)

I guarantee that this is unlike any pie you’ve ever had. The consistency is completely different due to the liquid mixture that is poured over the fruits – it is almost like a pear custard. Normally I am not a huge fan of pears (gotta be honest – the gritty texture kinda freaks me out) but I will gladly eat them this way any time! You can easily switch the pears for any other fruit you’d prefer, including apples, peaches, or plums (I plan on trying this in the spring.)  Have fun experimenting, and enjoy!

Ooh Baby Baby!

It was a sad, sad day in our household when the last crumbs and morsels of the Maple Apple Crisp were finally polished off.  I still had about 3 lbs of apples left over from my trip to the orchard which were begging to be put to good use.  I could have taken the healthy, responsible route and paired these with a nice pork loin, or chopped them up as a salad garnish, but where's the fun in that?!  Instead, I decided to put them together with some (in my mind) far superior ingredients - butter, brown sugar, and eggs.  Cholesterol fest, here we come!

In all reality, this recipe is not as bad for you as I'm making it sound.  The main dish combines a few eggs, some flour, and a little butter for a light and airy savory pie.  I decided to top mine with some Fuji apples (although you could really use any type) sauteed in a little butter and brown sugar. Yet again, I came up with this from an amalgamation of several similar recipes from Allrecipes.com.  For some reason, I keep referring to this as a "Dutch Baby", even though it's a German recipe and quite clearly called a "German Baby" on the recipe.  Oy.  

German Baby
What You'll Need:
Pie:
3 eggs
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 pinch nutmeg
2 tbsp unsalted butter


Topping:
2 apples, peeled, cored and sliced
2 tbs
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4-1/2 cup brown sugar

What To Do:
Preheat your oven to 400F with a cast-iron skillet (or other oven-safe skillet) inside. Place the 3 eggs in a bowl of hot tap water for 5 minutes to help bring them up to room temperature.  Warm your milk in the microwave for 50 seconds on high. Beat the eggs on high speed with an electric mixer.  While blending, slowly drizzle in your milk and the flour.  Add the nutmeg and vanilla. Beat for 2 minutes, or until you have a thin batter. 


As soon as the oven is preheated, carefully remove the skillet from the oven. Trust me - it will be really fricking HOT. (Yes, I know...it's been in an oven for 10 minutes at 400F, and it's metal, of course it's going to be hot!  Tell that to my apparent lack of common sense and burned fingers.)  Add the butter, which will sizzle and smell amazing, and rotate the skillet so that all surfaces are coated. Slowly pour in your batter, which will instantly start to cook on the bottom, forming an eggy barrier between the batter and skillet.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until you see eggs have "poofed" like a souffle and are golden brown on top.  I'll show you what mine looked like as we go along.

While the eggs are baking, prepare your apples to be cooked.  My best friend (and future guest blogger!) Molly's mom gave me an awesome gizmo called The Apple Machine which does the peeling and coring for you:

It kind of looks like a Medieval torture device...

...but it makes pretty swirly ribbons of apple peel...

...and it does it in seconds!

Meanwhile, heat a skillet or frying pan on medium heat and add the butter.  Once the butter is melted and starting to bubble, add the brown sugar and stir until melted.  I added a few splashes of water to mine so that I would have a thinner syrup.  Bring this to a vigorous boil, then reduce the heat to a steady simmer. Add the apples to the caramelizing sugar and saute for about 5-10 minutes, or until soft to the touch. 

At this point, my German Baby was slowly rising and creeping over the edge of my skillet, resembling the Giant Blob or some other Japanese monster:

I was a little concerned because the recipe said this would rise like a souffle, which mine definitely did NOT resemble at first. I am clearly a skeptical creature, because after 5 or so more minutes, it did exactly what it was supposed to (oh me of little faith). I waited until it was about to balloon into the baking rack above it before taking it out, although half of the pie (I'm still not sure what to call this) was relatively flat. Once out of the oven, it will quickly collapse until it slightly concave and looks like a normal pie.

I served this immediately with the apples on top and a little of the syrup drizzled all over, and topped it off with a few sprinkles of confectioner's sugar.

I have to admit that while I was super excited to eat these apples (they smelled and tasted just like the ones you can get at Cracker Barrel! Don't judge - they have yummy food), I was wary of what the actual pie would taste like.  When I originally read the recipe I expected it to have a cake-like consistency, but as soon as I put it in the oven I was concerned that it would end up being an omelet with apples on top - ew. I am happy to admit that I was very wrong - this was definitely a different style of dish than I'm used to, but my husband and I both loved it!  There is a very obvious egg texture to this, but thanks to the milk and flour there is no resemblance to scrambled eggs in favor of a custard.  Even though this sounds like a dessert, it is traditionally eaten for breakfast or lunch.  The sweetness of the apples balanced the richness of the pie, but even after a healthy serving I wasn't overly full or stuffed feeling.  This would be a perfect addition to a Sunday brunch or as a light afternoon meal.  I plan on eating my leftovers for breakfast this week, even though there won't be enough apples for 5 more days.  This would also be delicious with a drizzle of maple syrup (told you I loved the stuff) or with fresh fruit sliced on top. 

If any of you decide to make this, please let me know how it turns out!  I'd love to see if anyone else gets to see some interesting bubbles and shapes like I did!