Spiced Almond Pear Pie

This semi-sweet pear pie is one of those melting-in-your-mouth desserts. Its almond crust is super tender and crumbly, the pear filling is zesty and luscious. Tastes best on the second day when spices enhance the flavour even more. Despite not-so-pretty “dark” look the pie tastes heavenly:) Happy baking!
Serves 6-8
Takes 1 hr 35 mins (prep – 20 mins, cooling the dough – 30 mins, baking – 45 mins) + cooling

Ingredients

Crust
100 g almond meal (or almond flour)
1 cup wholegrain wheat flour
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt
140 g cold butter, cubed
1 tbsp (15 ml) water
Filling
6-8 pears (depending on their size) or 1 kg
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 cm fresh ginger, finely grated
pinch of nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp lemon juice
zest of 1 lemon
2 tbsp corn starch

Method

For the pie crust: combine the almond meal, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt. Add the chilled butter pieces and work with a fork until it resembles crumbs. Drizzle 1 tbsp of cold water over the mixture. Knead gently until the whole thing forms a soft dough. Wrap it in plastic wrap. Let chill for 30 minutes in the freezer (or 1 hour in the fridge).
For the filling: peel, core and slice the pears. Grate finely ginger, scrape lemon zest and squeeze juice. Add brown sugar, grated ginger, lemon zest and juice, cinnamon, nutmeg and corn starch to the pears. Toss gently. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Grease with oil or butter a Ø21 cm pie plate/baking dish.

Prepare a piece of parchment (of a pie plate’s size), dust it with flour and use as a surface for rolling out the pastry. Transfer the parchment with the pastry to the pie plate lining its bottom and sides. Trim off any excessive pastry, reroll it and cut out the cookies. Spread the pear filling into the pie crust. Top with the cookies. Bake for 40-45 minutes until golden brown and the filling is bubbling (tent with foil after 20-25 minutes of baking if you see that the top is already browned). Let cool in the oven for 10 mins. Remove and let set for 20-30 minutes or more. Serve with ice-cream, whipped cream, slivered almonds or fruit. Enjoy!:)

* For the Vegan version: replace the butter with coconut oil.

Bon Appétit!