Ufff… Finally home and back to a regular schedule. Thanksgiving down on the Cape and a few relaxing days up in the New Hampshire White Mountains made for a lovely Thanksgiving weekend, which included my final recipe for the Gourmet-only month of November.

I have to say that my intention for this homage to Gourmet was to be just that, a homage, but I feel like I’m griping about it more than praising it. Here’s the thing about Gourmet… it’s spectacular to look at, day-dream about all of the wonderful urban restaurants and cozy, convivial bed and breakfasts that cure their own bacon, but I’ve found it a touch challenging (and disappointing – I’m sorry!) to cook from.

For Thanksgiving, I was excited to make the recipe for Pear Butterscotch Pie featured in the September issue. I may have mentioned this before, but PT and I are the dessert-lovers’ yin and yang… I opt for anything with fruit or a grandmotherly touch (plum tart, bread puddings, strawberry rhubarb pie, pistachio ice cream), whereas PT would prefer sugar-crusted, chocolate-dipped, caramel-swirled just about anything. I thought that this Pear Butterscotch Pie recipe would be a nice compromise.

Honest, my heart was in the right place, but the recipe only called for ½ cup of brown sugar, actually mentioning that it would bubble and boil into butterscotch while the pie baked. Well, I was skeptical, but, this is Gourmet after all – they should know whether or not brown sugar will bubble and boil into butterscotch in their own recipe.

I envisioned gooey ribbons of buttery, sugary butterscotch enveloping baked, spiced pears in a butter crust. Sadly, everything went according to plan except for the butterscotch; the brown sugar sweetened the pears, but there was nothing that even the most forgiving dessert-lover could claim was butterscotch.

It was a lovely pear pie, nonetheless, and I’ve included the recipe here for those of you whose tastes favor the less sugary dessert, but if you’re trying to sweet-talk someone, you’ll do much better with something like the Salted Peanut Butter Toffee Cookies, Toffee-covered Cheesecake, or Celebration Cake with sugarey, chocolatey frosting.

Enjoy!

Click here for a printable version of the recipe

Baked Pear Pie, Serves 8

Adapted from Gourmet

Prep Time: 1 Hour 15 Minutes

Bake & Rest Time: 4 Hours

Total Prep Time: 5 Hours 15 Minutes

Ingredients:

For the filling:

3 Tbls. Flour

1 Tsp. Cinnamon

½ Tsp. Nutmeg

1/8 Tsp. Salt

½ Cup Packed Brown Sugar

5 Pears, Bosc and Anjou mix

1 Tbsp. Lemon Juice

1 Tsp. Pure Vanilla

1 Tbls. Butter, cut into bits

1 Egg, beaten with a splash of water

1 Tbsp. Raw Sugar

For the pie crust:

2 ½ Cups Flour

1 Cup (2 Sticks) Butter, cut into ½ inch pieces and kept very cold in the refrigerator

½ Tsp. Salt

6-10 Tbls. Ice Water

Preparation:

Start out by making the pie crusts, as they’ll need to rest for just over an hour.

In the bowl of a processor, pulse the flour, butter pieces, and salt until the mixture is sandy. Drizzle in 8 Tbls. of the ice water and pulse 3-5 more times.

The dough will still be sandy. Turn it out onto a well-floured surface, apply some pressure to it, and push the dough away from you with the heel of your hand; gather any of the sandy bits, mound on top of the dough, add a couple more tablespoons of the ice water, and apply pressure and push the dough away again. Repeat the process until the dough has all come together (but don’t add any more water).

Divide the dough into two pieces and flatten into discs. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

While the dough is chilling, get on with your pie filling.

Peel, core, and cut the pears into 6 sections and place in a large bowl.

Put a cookie or baking sheet on the middle rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 425°.

Whisk together the cinnamon, flour, nutmeg, salt, and brown sugar until the mixture is uniform in consistency. Cover the pears with the spice mixture and distribute evenly. Sprinkle with the lemon juice and vanilla, mix well, and let sit for 15-30 minutes to soak.

Once the hour is up on the pie crusts, remove one of them from the refrigerator, unwrap, and turn out onto a well-floured surface. Using a rolling pin, roll out to 12-14 inches in diameter and drape into a 9-inch pie dish.

Add the pear filling to the pie crust and dot with the bits of butter.

Roll out the second pie crust according to the same method and drape over the pie filling, allowing the excess to drape over the side. Using kitchen scissors, cut the excess dough that falls beyond ½ inch past the pie plate and set aside.

Brush the top of the pie crust with the egg wash and sprinkle with half of the sugar.

Combine all of the excess dough and roll out until it is ½ inch thick. Using cookie cutters, cut snowflakes, leaves, candy canes, or any other shape and place them on the pie.

Cut 3 one-inch long pie vents in the top crust and pop into the oven, on top of the cookie/baking sheet for 20 minutes. Open the oven door for 30 seconds, turn the heat down to 375°, and bake for 40-45 more minutes.

Cool for 2-3 hours, cut carefully, serve with whipped cream or ice cream and enjoy!