Pear Crisp Pie

(Ok, so I forgot to take a picture of my pie by itself, and this picture is a bit blurry. This is a picture from the Pie Off Brandon and I attended last night, and my pie is the one directly to the left of the white one.)

Pie Crust

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cup vegetable shortening

1 egg

5 tablespoons cold water

1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar

1. Combine flour and salt. Add in shortening and work together with a pastry cutter (or fork, or whisk) until the mixture resembles tiny pebbles.

2. Lightly beat egg with a fork then add it to the mixture. Add water and vinegar.

3. Remove 1/3 of batter from bowl and put it in a large plastic bag. Flatten slightly with a rolling pin. Close bag tightly. Repeat with rest of dough, using 1/3 at a time.

4. Put in freezer for at least overnight (this will make the dough more flakey, but you can use it right away if you'd like. Thaw dough for 20 minutes before rolling and putting in a pie tin.

5. If you want to pre-bake your crust, fill with pie weights (or pinto beans or rice on tin foil) and bake for 10 minutes on 400.

Pear filling

4 green pears (the harder the better)

Sugar

Pinch of Salt

1. Peel pears with a vegetable peeler. Cut lengthwise, spoon out seeds and stem. Cut into 1/2 pieces.

2. Add "a good amount" of sugar (this is a direct quote from Pioneer Woman, I just poured the sugar in till I felt warm and happy inside). Add pinch of salt. Mix all around.

Crisp Topping

1 cup flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Dash of nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 lb cold butter (1 stick)

1. In a medium bowl mix together all dry ingredients.

2. Cut butter into 1/2 inch squares. Put in bowl with dry ingredients and mix together with your hands (really squeeze together) until mixture resembles a coarse meal.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

1. Roll out pie crust. Pre-bake pie as directed above.

2. Take crust out of oven, pour in the pears. Cover with the crisp topping.

3. Cover with foil, bake for 15 minutes at 350. Remove foil, continue baking for 30 minutes more.

4. Take up the heat to 400, bake for 10 more minutes.

---REVIEW---

Brandon told me on the day of the Pioneer Woman signing that we were going to go to a Pie Off. I knew it was fate.

While Ree was signing my book I told her about the contest and asked her what I should make. I told her that I have a boyfriend that loves peach cobbler and she told me how she thought I could adapt her Pear Crisp recipe to make it into a Peach Cobbler Pie.

Well, turns out peaches are out of season, so I tried canned peaches. Horrible. Tried apples. No good. Stuck with the pears.

In the end I used three different recipes of Ree's and combined them to make a (contest winning) kick ass pie.