Pear Berry Pie

Pear Berry Pie is a stunning pear pie with juicy pears, blackberries and blueberries in a delicious flaky pastry crust.

Blackberry pear pie recipe

Pear Berry. So much more than the iconic 90’s body spray.

Pears and berries are also an amazing and often overlooked flavor combination. Pear and blueberry pie. Pear and blackberry pie. Pears and berries go together as well as peaches and raspberries.

I developed this stunning delicious pear pie recipe in collaboration with Plugra Butter to showcase how it’s possible to make inventive pie recipes using their butter in an all butter pastry crust.

The rustic peekaboo lattice top is an eye-catching way to hint to the flavors inside and give the whole poached pears the spotlight they deserve. The pears are prepared before baking by a quick poach in a sweet mixed berry and pear syrup.

The pears gently poach in the berry syrup until smooth and vibrantly ombre purple colored.

One slice into the flaky All Butter Pie Crust reveals the vibrant purple ombre beauty waiting for you within this deliciously upscale pear pie.

Ingredients

• Unsalted butter– sometimes called ‘sweet cream butter’, allows you to control the amount of salt when cooking and baking and is commonly called for in many recipes. To substitute salted butter reduce the amount of salt in the recipe. Plugrá Butter is the best-of-the-best and the trusted choice of expert bakers. Made right here at home with real milk from American dairy farms, it’s 82% butterfat (instead of 80% like most butters), and slow churned, with low moisture content for the creamiest flavor and best baking and cooking performance.
• Pears – the best pears for pie are slightly firm, sturdy varieties like red or green Anjou, Bartlett or Bosc. Pear pie is a great way to reduce food waste and use up soft fruit. But for the most stunning and delicious dessert use pears that are not fully ripe and maintain their structure and texture. Cutting pears into sturdy chunks instead of slices also prevents a mushy texture.
• Berries – any mixture of frozen blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, marionberries. Make this Pear Berry Pie recipe with any berry. Simply add more sugar if using a tarter variety of berry like blueberries. And less sugar with sweeter berries, like raspberries. Equal amounts of fresh berries can be substituted for frozen by reducing overall baking time by 15-20 minutes.
• Lemon
• Granulated sugar
• Cornstarch
• All-purpose flour
• Ground ginger
• Salt
• Egg or cream to help the crust brown while baking.
• Pie crust – your favorite double pie crust recipe or store bought pie crust will work.

Step by step instructions

1. Prepare All Butter Pie Crust and refrigerate or freeze until ready to use.
2. Peel pears. To cleanly and easily remove pear skin, simmer a large pot of water and place a large bowl of cold water with lemon juice nearby. Quickly dunk pears (10-15 seconds only!) into the hot water. Then, place immediately into the cold lemon water and the skin will rub off instantly. Lemon has the added benefit of preventing the fruit from browning before it bakes.
3. Measure the height of pears and slice off the top to peak out of the lattice crust later, if desired. Then cut the rest into large chunks and mix with filling ingredients.

4. Preheat oven and roll out crust and loosely place into 9″ pie dish.
5. Place a layer of Pear Berry filling into pie crust. Nestle the pear tops into the filling so they stand straight up.

6. Spoon remaining filling around pears and top with remaining butter.
7. Arrange pie crust strips around the pear tops in a rough lattice-type pattern. 
8. Brush with egg wash and a sprinkle of coarse sugar.
9. Bake in preheated oven until crust is golden and blackberry pear filling is bubbly.

10. Allow to cool slightly then slice and serve.

11. Enjoy!

How to make ahead

The crust – make ahead and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator and use as directed.

The pears + filling – prepare and refrigerate until ready to assemble, up to 24 hours in advance. Or freeze for up to 3 months.

The whole pie – the entire pie can be made a day in advance. Store tightly covered at room temperature. Or freeze the baked pie for up to 3 months tightly wrapped. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature before serving.

Customize it

Enhance the peekaboo-pear look – keep the pears whole. Making them sit up taller is especially nice when you can find fresh pears with long stems. Simply cube 2 extra pears, about 3 cups total, for the filling.

Classic double crust pear pie – peel, chop and add all pears to the berries rather than reserving the tops. Then, cover the entire pie with a traditional top crust and add a few vent holes.

Geometric pattern pear pie – place the single pear standing straight up in the middle of the pie. Then, string long strands of pie dough around the pear starting on one side and working your way around, like a bicycle spoke.

How to serve

Serve this pear berry pie plain or with a drizzle of wildflower honey and a scoop of vanilla ice cream to finish this beautiful, upscale dessert.

📖 Recipe

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